Yamabuki wa nadetsutsu ohosamu aritsutsumo kimi kimashitsutsu kazashitarikeri

山吹は撫でつつ生ほさむありつつも
君来ましつつかざしたりけり

Roma-ji: Yamabuki wa nadetsutsu ohosamu aritsutsumo kimi kimashitsutsu kazashitarikeri
English Translation: The yamabuki
I shall stroke and help to grow,
as it always was,
for you came here time and again
and wore its sprays in your hair
Meaning: I will tend the yamabuki, stroking it as it grows, for just as it has always been, you would come and wear its flowers in your hair.
Commentary: Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4302

Headnote: "On the nineteenth day of the third month, a banquet beneath the zelkova tree at the gate of Yakamochi's country estate; two poems."
I will tend the yamabuki, stroking it as it grows, for you would always come and wear its flowers in your hair: so the poem says. According to the headnote, it comes from a banquet held on the nineteenth day of the third month of Tenpyō Shōhō 6 beneath the zelkova at the gate of Yakamochi's estate. The left note of the next poem says the author came with yamabuki flowers he had picked and a jar of wine, and Yakamochi answered with the next poem. Singing of the host's love for the flower, the guest shows his affection by vowing to cherish it.
The author, Okisome no Hatsuse, belonged to the Okisome lineage, but nothing of his career survives.

The first line, "yamabuki wa," sets as topic the yellow flower of late spring, the very flower the author had brought.
The second line, "nadetsutsu ohosamu," with the volitional mu, says "I will raise it, stroking it with care." The poem pauses here.
The third line, "aritsutsumo," means "staying always just as it is." Using tsutsu three times, the poem impresses on us an action repeated again and again.
The fourth line, "kimi kimashitsutsu," uses the honorific masu: "you, my host, would come."
The closing line, "kazashitarikeri," ends in keri of realization: "you used to wear it in your hair." The next poem answers with the same yamabuki.
Author: Okisome no Hatsuse
Source: Manyoshu
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