Kurenai ni iro o ba kaete ume no hana ka zo kotogoto ni niowazari keru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅に色をば変へて梅の花
香ぞことごとににほはざりける

Roma-ji: Kurenai ni iro o ba kaete ume no hana ka zo kotogoto ni niowazari keru
English Translation: To crimson, scarlet,
you have changed your color, yet,
O blossoms of plum,
your fragrance in no new way
has come to scent the air
Meaning: Though the plum blossoms have changed their color to crimson, I find their fragrance is not different in the least.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 44

Headnote: "On seeing red plum blossoms."
Looking at a red plum, the poet notices that though its color has turned crimson, unlike white plum, its scent remains the same. Setting the difference in color against the sameness of fragrance, he quietly suggests that the essence of the plum lies in its scent.
According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing red plum blossoms.
The poet, called "Mitsune," is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune. One of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū, he served as a minor official in Kai and Izumi provinces, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "To crimson, scarlet," presents the vivid crimson of the red plum. Red plum also appears in this book in 17 and 46.
In the second line, "o ba" is emphatic, meaning "the color, at least, has changed," and contrasts with "ka zo" in the fourth line.
The third line, "O blossoms of plum," names the red plum.
In the fourth line, "zo" forms a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "keru" of the last line. "Kotogoto ni" means "in any distinctly different way."
In the last line, "keru" expresses a sigh of realization that the scent is no different after all.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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