Toshi no ha ni ume wa sakedomo utsusemi no yo no hito ware shi haru nakarikeri

年のはに梅は咲けどもうつせみの
世の人我れし春なかりけり

Roma-ji: Toshi no ha ni ume wa sakedomo utsusemi no yo no hito ware shi haru nakarikeri
English Translation: Year after year
the plum blossoms come to bloom,
yet in this world's life
I, a man of this world,
have never known a springtime.
Meaning: Every year the plum blossoms bloom, but for me, a person living in this fleeting world, there has never been a spring.
Commentary: Book Ten Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1857

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Flowers"
This poem contrasts the plum that blooms without fail every year with the poet's own life, which never meets its spring, lamenting misfortune. The "spring" of "haru nakarikeri" overlays the season with a time of flourishing and happiness in life, bringing out the frailty of human life against nature's unchanging cycle. Within the flower group it turns from the beauty of blossoms to a reflection on life, sharing the feeling of 1884, "the years and months are new, yet people grow old."

The first line, "toshi no ha ni," means every year, showing nature's unchanging round.
In the second line, "though the plum blooms," "domo" is an adversative particle, the turning point that sets plum against self.
The third line, "utsusemi no," is a pillow word attached to "world," carrying the sense of a body living in this world.
The fourth line, "I, a person of this world," uses the emphatic "shi" and is hypermetric, strongly singling out the self.
In the last line, "haru nakarikeri," "keri" expresses exclamatory realization. It closes lamenting that there was no spring for the poet, overlaying the spring of the season with the spring of life.
Source: Manyoshu
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