Kami matsuru yado no unohana shirotae no mitegura ka to zo ayamatarekeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

神祭る宿の卯の花白妙の
みてぐらかとぞあやまたれける

Roma-ji: Kami matsuru yado no unohana shirotae no mitegura ka to zo ayamatarekeru
English Translation: At the house where they
worship the gods, the deutzia,
in its pure white cloth,
is mistaken, I suppose,
for sacred offerings there.
Meaning: The deutzia at the house where the gods are worshipped is so white that I mistake it for sacred offerings of pure white cloth.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 92

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "For the monthly folding screens in the reign of Engi"
The poet mistakes the deutzia blooming at a house where the gods are worshipped for the white offerings presented before the gods. Likening the whiteness of deutzia to the white offerings of a sacred rite, the poem adds a purity befitting the festival scene painted on the screen. According to the headnote, like the preceding poem, it accompanied a folding screen depicting the events of each month, made in the Engi era of Emperor Daigo.
The author, written as Tsurayuki, is Ki no Tsurayuki. The leading compiler of the Kokinshū, he wrote its Kana Preface and the Tosa Diary, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "kami matsuru," repeats the first line of the preceding poem, carrying on the scene of the Fourth Month's rites from the same screen.
Second line, "yado no unohana," refers to the deutzia at the house where the gods are worshipped. Where the preceding poem gave the time, the Fourth Month, this one gives the place, the house.
Third line, "shirotae no," means "pure white," intensifying the whiteness of the offerings in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "mitegura ka to zo," means "as if they were sacred offerings." Following the preceding poem's comparison with rice pounded white, this poem uses the same association with sacred rites to liken the flowers to offerings, and the two poems pair as scenes of worship.
Final line, "ayamatarekeru," means "they are mistaken for," with "re," the continuative form of the spontaneous auxiliary "ru," and "zo" resolved by the attributive "keru."
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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