Waga yado no nageki wa haru mo shiranaku ni nani ni ka hana o kurabete mo mimu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我が宿のなげきは春も知らなくに
何にか花を比べても見む

Roma-ji: Waga yado no nageki wa haru mo shiranaku ni nani ni ka hana o kurabete mo mimu
English Translation: At my dwelling here
the tree of grief knows nothing
of the coming spring;
with what then could I compare
these flowers, and look on them?
Meaning: At my house, the tree of grief knows nothing of spring and bears no blossoms—so with what could I possibly compare these flowers?
Commentary: Book Three Spring Poems III 93

Headnote: "When a woman friend with whom she always exchanged letters broke off a lovely branch of cherry and sent it, saying, 'Compare these flowers with yours.' / She was one who, her father the prince showing her no special care, was always lost in brooding."
Sent a splendid cherry branch by a friend and told to compare it with the flowers of her own house, the poet answers that the "nageki," the tree of grief, at her house knows no spring and bears no flowers, so there is nothing to compare. Through the wit that grief's tree never blooms, she conveys her melancholy lot.
According to the headnote, a woman friend with whom she always corresponded broke off a lovely cherry branch and sent it, telling her to compare it with the flowers at her house. The appended note says the poet was always brooding, her father the prince showing no particular concern for her.
There is no settled view as to whom "Kowakagimi" refers. It seems to be the name of a lady-in-waiting or the like, and the appended note shows she was the daughter of a prince.

The first line, "Waga yado no," means "of my house." 89 and 120 of this book also sing of the poet's own house, here contrasted with the friend's flowers.
In the second line, "nageki" is a pivot word joining "sorrow" and "nageki," wood for the fire. The same pivot word appears in 55, 65 and 66 of Book Two.
The third line, "shiranaku ni," means "since it does not know," showing that the tree of grief bears no flowers even when spring comes.
In the fourth line, "ka" is a particle forming a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "mu" in the last line, carrying the rhetorical sense: "with what could I compare them? With nothing."
The last line, "kurabete mo mimu," takes up the friend's words "compare them" from the headnote, answering that there is nothing to compare them with.
Author: Kowakagimi
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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