Haruyanagi kazura ni orishi ume no hana tare ka ukabeshi sakazuki no e ni

春柳かづらに折りし梅の花
誰れか浮かべし酒坏の上に

Roma-ji: Haruyanagi kazura ni orishi ume no hana tare ka ukabeshi sakazuki no e ni
English Translation: Spring willow garlands
we broke them off to make, and plum —
those blossoms of plum,
who has set them floating here
upon the surface of the cup?
Meaning: Who has floated on the wine cup the plum blossoms we broke off to make garlands with the spring willow?
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 840

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thirty-two poems on plum blossoms, with preface"
The poet asks who has floated on the wine cup the plum blossoms broken off for garlands. Capturing a moment of the feast, petals floating in a cup, he delights in the elegant scene.
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 "Secretary of Iki Son-shi Ochikata."
The poet, Sonshi no Ochikata, was an official serving as secretary of Iki Province.

First line, "haruyanagi": a pillow word for "kazura," since willow was woven into garlands, doubling as real spring willow.
Second line, "kazura ni orishi": "broken off to make garlands."
Third line, "ume no hana": the blossoms broken for garlands, found where one did not expect them.
Fourth line, "tare ka ukabeshi": the particle "ka" is resolved by "shi": who floated them? The poem breaks here, in inversion with the last line.
Fifth line, "sakazuki no e ni": "on the wine cup," the inversion leaving the floating blossoms as the final image. In the later reply 852, the plum itself asks to be floated in wine.
Author: Sonshi no Ochikata
Source: Manyoshu
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