Kazoeredo obotsukanaki o waga yado no ume koso haru no kazu o shiru rame - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

数ふれどおぼつかなきを我が宿の
梅こそ春の数を知るらめ

Roma-ji: Kazoeredo obotsukanaki o waga yado no ume koso haru no kazu o shiru rame
English Translation: Though I try to count,
I cannot be certain, yet
here at my own house
it is the plum that must know
the number of all the springs.
Meaning: Though I count, I cannot be sure of the number; surely it is the plum at my house that knows how many springs have passed.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1012

Headnote: "For a screen at the sixtieth-birthday celebration of the seventh prince of Emperor Seiwa"
The poet says that though one counts, the number is uncertain, but surely the plum at this house, which has bloomed every year, knows how many springs its master has seen. The headnote shows it was written for a screen celebrating the sixtieth birthday of the seventh son of Emperor Seiwa. Treating the springs he has passed as too many to count, and entrusting their number to the plum that has bloomed unchanged each year, it celebrates the prince's long life.
The author, Ki no Tsurayuki, was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū, wrote its kana preface and the Tosa Diary. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "kazoeredo," means "though one counts," with "do" a concessive particle.
Second line, "obotsukanaki o," means "it is uncertain, but," with "o" a concessive particle.
Third line, "waga yado no," means "at my house," sharing the same line with the third line of 1008 in this book, "waga yado no," which likewise sings of the plum at one's own house.
Fourth line, "ume koso haru no," means "it is the plum that, of the springs," with the binding particle "koso" resolved by the perfective form "rame" in the final line.
Final line, "kazu o shiru rame," means "must know the number," with "rame" the perfective form of the conjectural auxiliary "ramu." Repeating "kazu" from "kazoeredo" in the first line, it ends by saying that the plum knows the countless years.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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