Haru kureba saku chō koto o nureginu ni kisuru bakari no hana ni zo arikeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春来れば咲くてふことを濡れ衣に
着するばかりの花にぞありける

Roma-ji: Haru kureba saku chō koto o nureginu ni kisuru bakari no hana ni zo arikeru
English Translation: When the spring arrives,
they bloom, or so people say;
but that's a false charge,
like a wet robe they must wear—
such, I see, are the flowers
Meaning: People say the blossoms bloom when spring comes, but that is only a false charge pinned on them like a wet robe—such, I see, are these flowers.
Commentary: Book Three Spring Poems III 98

Headnote: "Beneath the flowers, when various people were saying how quickly they scatter."
People say flowers bloom when spring comes, but since they fall so quickly, the poet says, "blooming" is a name pinned on them like a false charge. The transience of flowers is expressed wittily through the word "nureginu," a wet robe, meaning a false accusation.
According to the headnote, it was composed beneath the flowers when people were remarking that the blossoms fall all too soon.
The poet, called "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki. A son of Ki no Mochiyuki, he was the leading compiler of the Kokin Wakashū and wrote its kana preface. He served as governor of Tosa among other posts, is known as the author of the Tosa Diary, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "Haru kureba," means "when spring comes." The same phrase appears in 55 and 62 of Book Two.
In the second line, "chō" is a contraction of "to iu": "that they bloom."
In the third line, "nureginu," literally a wet robe, means a false accusation or groundless reputation, and is an associated word for "kisuru" in the fourth line.
In the fourth line, "kisu" means to clothe someone: "merely made to wear the false charge."
In the last line, "zo" forms a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "keru," expressing the sigh of realizing that such are the flowers.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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