Unohana o chirinishi ume ni magaete ya natsu no kakine ni uguisu no naku - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

卯の花を散りにし梅にまがへてや
夏の垣根に鶯の鳴く

Roma-ji: Unohana o chirinishi ume ni magaete ya natsu no kakine ni uguisu no naku
English Translation: The deutzia blooms,
has it mistaken them for
plum that fell away,
that by the hedge in summer
the warbler sings its song?
Meaning: Has the warbler mistaken the deutzia for plum blossoms that have already fallen? It is singing by the hedge in summer.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 89

Headnote: "On a warbler singing among deutzia blossoms in a mountain village"
The poet wonders whether the warbler singing among the white deutzia on a summer hedge has mistaken the flowers for the white plum blossoms that have already fallen. Amused that the warbler, a bird of spring, is still singing in summer, the poet overlaps the whiteness of deutzia and plum. According to the headnote, it was composed on a warbler singing among deutzia blossoms in a mountain village.
Taira no Kinzane was a poet of the mid-Heian period; little is known of his life.

First line, "unohana o," refers to deutzia, which bears white flowers in early summer. Poems on deutzia continue from here through 94, and this poem begins the sequence.
Second line, "chirinishi ume ni," means "for the plum that has already fallen," with "nishi" combining the perfective "nu" and the past "ki." Calling up the plum of spring, it shows the passing of the season.
Third line, "magaete ya," means "mistaking them," with the questioning particle "ya," which is resolved by the attributive "naku" in the final line.
Fourth line, "natsu no kakine ni," means "by the summer hedge," pairing deutzia and hedges as in 80.
Final line, "uguisu no naku," closes the construction begun by "ya" in the third line with the attributive "naku." Bringing into the summer book the warbler, sung of in Book One as a bird of spring, it portrays the overlapping of seasons.
Author: Taira no Kinzane
Source: Shui Wakashu
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