Murasaki no fuji saku matsu no kozue ni wa moto no midori mo miezu zo arikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紫の藤咲く松のこずゑには
もとの緑も見えずぞありける

Roma-ji: Murasaki no fuji saku matsu no kozue ni wa moto no midori mo miezu zo arikeru
English Translation: On the tips of pines
where purple wisteria
has come into bloom,
even the green they once had
can no longer now be seen.
Meaning: On the pine tops where the purple wisteria blooms, even the pines' own green can no longer be seen.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 85

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A folding-screen poem from the reign of Retired Emperor En'yū"
Purple wisteria blooms so abundantly on the pine tops that even the pines' own green can no longer be seen; the poem sings of the wisteria at its height through a contrast of colors. Showing wisteria so profuse that it hides even the evergreen pine, it praises the scene on the screen in a festive spirit. According to the headnote, like the preceding poem, it is a folding-screen poem from the reign of Emperor En'yū.
The author, written as Shitagau, is Minamoto no Shitagō. Of the Saga Genji line, he was a scholar and poet of the mid-Heian period. As one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber he took part in compiling the Gosenshū, and he compiled the dictionary Wamyō Ruijushō. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "murasaki no," names the color of the wisteria. By placing color at the very start, the poem makes the contrast between purple and green its center.
Second line, "fuji saku matsu no," means "of the pine where wisteria blooms," continuing from the preceding poem the image of wisteria hanging on a pine.
Third line, "kozue ni wa," means "on the pine tops," inheriting the same words as the fourth line of the preceding poem, "matsu no kozue ni."
Fourth line, "moto no midori mo," refers to the pines' own original green. Whereas the preceding poem compared the wisteria with that of a famous place, this poem contrasts the presence and absence of color, the purple of wisteria against the green of the pine.
Final line, "miezu zo arikeru," means "cannot be seen," with "zo" resolved by the attributive "keru."
Author: Minamoto no Shitagō
Source: Shui Wakashu
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