Kokoro mote oru ka wa ayana ume no hana ka o tomete dani tou hito no naki - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

心もて折るかはあやな梅の花
香をとめてだに訪ふ人のなき

Roma-ji: Kokoro mote oru ka wa ayana ume no hana ka o tomete dani tou hito no naki
English Translation: Was it by my will
that I was broken? How unfair!
O blossoms of plum,
even seeking out your scent,
there is no one who comes calling
Meaning: It was not by my own will that I was broken off—how unreasonable it is! No one comes to visit me, not even in search of the plum's fragrance.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 29

Headnote: "Having followed a man and moved elsewhere."
A woman who moved away with a man likens herself to a plum branch broken off and carried away, and laments that no one visits her even in search of its scent. It holds the protest that she did not leave of her own wish.
According to the headnote, it was composed when she followed a man and went to live elsewhere. It can be read as reproaching the people of her former home for not visiting.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Was it by my will," means "of my own heart, by my own wish."
In the second line, "ka wa" is rhetorical, "was I broken by my own will? Surely not," and "ayana" means "unreasonable."
The third line, "O blossoms of plum," stands for the poet herself, broken off and moved.
In the fourth line, "tomete" means "seeking," and "dani" means "even," stressing how few come, not even for the scent.
The last line, "there is no one who comes calling," ends in the attributive form, sighing that no one visits. It also resonates with the lament of 24 in this book that the awaited one does not come.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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