Ume no hana ima sakari nari momotori no koe no koishiki haru kitaru rashi

梅の花今盛りなり百鳥の
声の恋しき春来るらし

Roma-ji: Ume no hana ima sakari nari momotori no koe no koishiki haru kitaru rashi
English Translation: The plum blossoms
now are at their very best;
of a hundred birds
the voices we long to hear —
spring, it seems, has come at last
Meaning: The plum blossoms are at their peak; it seems the spring has come, when we long to hear the voices of a hundred birds.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 834

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thirty-two poems on plum blossoms, with preface"
With the plums in full bloom, the poet senses that the spring has come when the songs of many birds are longed for. From the plum's peak he anticipates a spring soon filled with birdsong, feeling the season open outward.
This is one of the thirty-two poems of the Plum Blossom Banquet, held on the thirteenth day of the first month of Tenpyō 2, when officials of Dazaifu and provincial governors of Kyushu gathered at the residence of the Governor-General Ōtomo no Tabito and composed poems on the plum trees in his garden. The Chinese preface describes how, in the auspicious first month of early spring, the air was fine and the breeze gentle, the plums opened white like face powder before a mirror, and the orchids gave off a scent like a perfume sachet; it is also famous as the source of the era name Reiwa. The preface closes by proposing that, just as Chinese poetry has its pieces on falling plum blossoms, the company should compose short poems on the garden plums. The poem is signed "Junior Scribe Den-shi Umahito"; whether "Den" stands for the Taguchi, Tanabe, or another clan is unsettled.
The poet, Denshi no Umahito, was an official serving as Junior Scribe of Dazaifu.

First line, "ume no hana": the banquet's theme.
Second line, "ima sakari nari": the same line as the second of 820; the poem breaks here.
Third line, "momotori no": birds of many kinds, calling to one another in spring.
Fourth line, "koe no koishiki": their voices longed for and dear.
Fifth line, "haru kitaru rashi": "rashi" infers from evidence, judging from the plum's peak that spring has come.
Author: Denshi no Umahito
Source: Manyoshu
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