Harusame ni moeshi yanagi ka ume no hana tomo ni okurenu tsune no mono kamo

春雨に萌えし柳か梅の花
ともに後れぬ常の物かも

Roma-ji: Harusame ni moeshi yanagi ka ume no hana tomo ni okurenu tsune no mono kamo
English Translation: Willow, budding forth
under the soft spring rain—
with the plum blossoms
never falling behind them,
are you their constant companion
Meaning: Willow, now sprouting in the spring rain—are you the plum blossoms' constant companion, never lagging behind them?
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3903

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Six new poems in belated response to the plum-blossom poems of the Dazaifu days"
Is the willow that has budded in the spring rain the plum's faithful companion, never lagging behind?—a poem on the pairing of plum and willow. This is one of six poems that Ōtomo no Fumimochi composed on the ninth day of the twelfth month of 740, written in response to the thirty-two poems of the plum-blossom banquet held at Tabito's residence in Dazaifu in the first month of 730 (Book Five, 815 to 846). Ten years had passed, and his father Tabito, host of that banquet, was already dead; a longing for the banquet of old runs beneath the series. Many poems of the plum banquet sing of plum and willow together, and this poem inherits that pairing.
The poet, Ōtomo no Fumimochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and the younger brother of Yakamochi. He died young in 746.
The left note reads, "The above were composed by Ōtomo no Sukune Fumimochi on the ninth day of the twelfth month of the twelfth year."

First line, "harusame ni": "by the spring rain," giving the occasion of the willow's budding.
Second line, "moeshi yanagi ka": moyu means to sprout, shi is the attributive of the past auxiliary ki, and ka is a question tinged with wonder.
Third line, "ume no hana": set beside the willow, it shows the pairing of plum and willow. Book Five, 821, of the plum banquet also sings of "breaking sprays of green willow and plum to wear," and 3905 in this book likewise sets "plum and willow" side by side.
Fourth line, "tomo ni okurenu": "never falling behind, together with the plum."
Fifth line, "tsune no mono kamo": "are you their constant companion?" kamo expressing wonder with a question.
Author: Ōtomo no Fumimochi
Source: Manyoshu
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