咲き咲かずよそにても見む山桜
峰の白雲立ちな隠しそ
峰の白雲立ちな隠しそ
- Roma-ji
-
Saki sakazu yoso nite mo mimu yamazakura mine no shirakumo tachi na kakushi so
- English Translation
-
In bloom or not yet,
I would view them from afar,
mountain cherry trees,
O white clouds upon the peak,
do not rise and hide them so.
- Meaning
- Whether they bloom or not, I would gaze on the mountain cherries even from afar; white clouds on the peak, do not rise and hide them.
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems 38
Headnote: "For the poetry contest at the palace in the ninth year of Tenryaku"
Whether the mountain cherries are in bloom or not, the poet wishes at least to gaze at them from afar, and so calls on the white clouds on the peak not to rise and hide them. The strength of a heart waiting for the cherries shows in the wish to keep watching the mountain whether there are flowers or not. According to the headnote, the poem was submitted to the poetry contest held at the palace in the ninth year of Tenryaku under Emperor Murakami.
First line, "saki sakazu," means "whether they bloom or not."
Second line, "yoso nite mo mimu," means "I will look, even from afar."
Third line, "yamazakura," stands as the object of viewing, and the poem pauses after the third line. Following the Yoshino flowers of the preceding poem, it sings of mountain cherries.
Fourth line, "mine no shirakumo," calls on the white clouds as the things that hide the cherries.
Final line, "tachi na kakushi so," uses the prohibitive "na ... so" and is the same final line as poem 16 of this book. Where poem 16 bade the haze not to hide the plum, this one bids the white clouds not to hide the cherries.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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