君見よと尋ねて折れる山桜
古りにし色と思はざらなん
古りにし色と思はざらなん
- Roma-ji
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Kimi miyo to tazunete oreru yamazakura furinishi iro to omowazaranan
- English Translation
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"Let my lord see these"—
so I sought and broke them off,
these mountain cherries;
please do not think of them
as a color past its prime
- Meaning
- I sought out and broke off these mountain cherries so that you might see them; please do not think their color old and faded.
- Commentary
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Book Three Spring Poems III 115
Headnote: "On breaking off some mountain cherry blossoms and sending them."
Sending a branch of mountain cherry, the poet asks that, since she searched for and broke it so he might see it, he not think its color old and past its prime. She conveys the trouble she took to seek the flowers in the hills, with care for the one receiving the gift.
According to the headnote, it was attached to a branch of mountain cherry she broke off and sent.
The poet, Ise, was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, governor of Ise, and served Empress Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda. She received Emperor Uda's favor and later bore Nakatsukasa to Prince Atsuyoshi. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The first line, "Kimi miyo to," means "so that you may see."
In the second line, "tazunu" means to seek out, and "ru" is the attributive of the continuative auxiliary "ri": "which I searched for and broke off."
The third line, "yamazakura," names cherries blooming in the hills. Mountain cherries also appear in 118 and 119 of this book.
In the fourth line, "furu" means to grow old or pass one's prime. The next poem, 116, also uses "furinishi," so the same phrase appears in two consecutive poems.
In the last line, "nan" is a wish addressed to another: "please do not think so."
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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