Unohana no sakeru kakine wa michinoku no magaki no shima no nami ka to zo miru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

卯の花の咲ける垣根はみちのくの
まがきの島の波かとぞ見る

Roma-ji: Unohana no sakeru kakine wa michinoku no magaki no shima no nami ka to zo miru
English Translation: The deutzia blooms
that flower along the hedge
in far Michinoku
I take for the waves that wash
the Island of Magaki.
Meaning: The hedge where deutzia blooms looks to me like the white waves breaking on Magaki Island in far Michinoku.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 90

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The hedge of blooming deutzia is likened to the white waves breaking on Magaki Island, a poetic place in Michinoku. The conceit lies in overlapping white flowers with white waves, and in the wordplay that echoes "kakine" (hedge) with "magaki," a word of the same meaning.

First line, "unohana no," continues from the preceding poem with deutzia blooming on a hedge.
Second line, "sakeru kakine wa," means "the hedge where they bloom," carrying on the pairing of deutzia and hedges as in 80 and 89 of this book.
Third line, "michinoku no," means "of Michinoku," leading to the poetic place in the fourth line. Bringing in the distant northeast, far from the capital, it sets up a contrast of far and near with the hedge close at hand.
Fourth line, "magaki no shima no," names Magaki Island, a poetic place in the bay of Shiogama in Michinoku. "Magaki," like "kakine," means a woven fence of brushwood or bamboo, echoing the hedge of the second line.
Final line, "nami ka to zo miru," means "I take them for waves," with "zo" resolved by the attributive "miru." The conceit of likening the whiteness of deutzia to waves develops in the following poems into comparisons with snow, sacred offerings and white robes.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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