Koishikeba katami ni semu to waga yado ni ueshi fujinami ima sakinikeri

恋しけば形見にせむと我がやどに
植ゑし藤波今咲きにけり

Roma-ji: Koishikeba katami ni semu to waga yado ni ueshi fujinami ima sakinikeri
English Translation: Whenever I long,
it would be a keepsake, I thought,
and in my garden
I planted the wisteria:
now it has come into bloom
Meaning: The wisteria I planted in my garden, meaning it to be a keepsake whenever I longed for you, has now come into bloom.
Commentary: Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1471

Headnote: "A poem by Yamabe no Sukune Akahito"
The wisteria he planted in his garden as a keepsake for times of longing has just now come into bloom. Seeing it in flower brings back the feelings with which he planted it, deepening his longing all the more.
The author, Yamabe no Akahito, was a court poet of the early Nara period. He excelled at pure, clear landscape poems and was later ranked alongside Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.

The first line means "if I should come to long for you."
The second line, "I would make it a keepsake," gives the reason for planting the wisteria.
The third line names his own garden.
In the fourth line, "fujinami," wisteria waves, names the flower from the way its clusters sway like waves. 1423 of this book also sings of a plum planted in the garden that has bloomed, so poems rejoicing at the blooming of planted flowers correspond between spring and summer.
The final line, with the perfective "ni" and exclamatory "keri," expresses his wonder that the wisteria has now bloomed.
Author: Yamabe no Akahito
Source: Manyoshu
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