Miwataseba kasuga no nobe ni kasumi tachi saki nioeru wa sakurabana ka mo

見わたせば春日の野辺に霞立ち
咲きにほへるは桜花かも

Roma-ji: Miwataseba kasuga no nobe ni kasumi tachi saki nioeru wa sakurabana ka mo
English Translation: When I gaze afar,
over Kasuga's broad fields
the haze has risen,
and what blooms there shining bright—
are those the cherry blossoms?
Meaning: When I look out over the fields of Kasuga, haze has risen there, and what blooms so radiantly—could it be cherry blossoms?
Commentary: Book Ten Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1872

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Flowers"
This poem looks out over the fields of Kasuga and catches cherry blossoms shining amid the rising haze. Layering haze and cherry, two emblems of spring, in a distant view, it depicts the breadth of spring on Kasuga Plain in a generous sweep. The haze on Mount Kasuga sung in the haze group and the cherry of the flower group meet in one poem, binding together the scenes of the book's spring miscellaneous poems.

The first line, "when I gaze out," shows a wide prospect.
The second line, "in the fields of Kasuga," names the Kasuga district sung in the haze group from 1843 to 1845.
The third line, "haze rises," shows flowers floating in the distant haze.
In the fourth line, "saki nioeru wa," "niou" means to glow with color and "ru" marks continuing state; the line is hypermetric.
In the last line, "sakurabana ka mo," "ka mo" is a question tinged with exclamation, closing by surmising that the flowers glimpsed in the haze are cherry.
Source: Manyoshu
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