Yado chikaku utsushite ueshi kai mo naku machidō ni nomi niou hana kana - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

宿近く移して植ゑしかひもなく
待ち遠にのみにほふ花かな

Roma-ji: Yado chikaku utsushite ueshi kai mo naku machidō ni nomi niou hana kana
English Translation: Close beside my house
I moved and planted you, but
to no avail, for
only after long waiting
do you, my flower, bloom
Meaning: I moved you and planted you close to my house, yet it was all in vain: you are a flower that blooms only after I have waited long.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 17

Headnote: "Having planted a red plum in the garden, when it bloomed late the following spring."
The poet planted a red plum in his garden to enjoy its blossoms close at hand, and is impatient when it is slow to bloom the next spring. The poem's charm lies in the contrast between nearness and distance: planted near, yet making him wait so long.
According to the headnote, he planted a red plum among the garden plantings, and composed this when it bloomed late the following spring.
The poet, Fujiwara no Kanesuke, was a son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto and rose to Middle Counselor. Because his residence stood by the embankment of the Kamo River, he was called the Embankment Middle Counselor. He was Murasaki Shikibu's great-grandfather and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "Close beside my house," shows nearness to the house, contrasting with "long waiting" in the last lines.
The second line, "I moved and planted you," tells of transplanting the red plum into his garden. The red plum at Kanesuke's house also appears in the headnote to the book's last poem, 46, so that Kanesuke's red plum frames this book at both ends.
The third line, "to no avail," means the transplanting was in vain.
The fourth line, "only after long waiting," means he can only wait impatiently, contrasting with "close" in the first line.
In the last line, "niou" means for a flower to bloom in radiant beauty, and "kana" expresses a sigh.
Author: Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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