Katsuragi ya Takama no yama no sakurabana kumoi no yoso ni mite ya suginamu - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

葛城や高間の山の桜花
雲居のよそに見てや過ぎなむ

Roma-ji: Katsuragi ya Takama no yama no sakurabana kumoi no yoso ni mite ya suginamu
English Translation: Katsuragi's
Mount Takama, its cherry blossoms
high among the clouds:
must I only see them far away
and pass by on my road?
Meaning: Must I only gaze from afar at the cherry blossoms of Mount Takama in Katsuragi, distant as the clouds, and simply pass them by?
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 56

Headnote: "Composed as a poem on blossoms when presenting a hundred-poem sequence to Retired Emperor Sutoku"
Composed on the topic "blossoms" for a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku, this poem says that the cherries of Mount Takama in Katsuragi bloom so high and far that they might be mistaken for clouds, and asks whether one must simply view them like distant clouds and pass on without approaching. It conveys longing for the out-of-reach cherries of the high peak and regret at being unable to draw near.
The author, "Master of the Western Capital Akisuke," is Fujiwara no Akisuke, son of Fujiwara no Akisue, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. He carried on the poetic tradition of the Rokujō Fujiwara house and compiled the Shika Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Sutoku. He was the father of Fujiwara no Kiyosuke.

First line, "Katsuragi ya": "ya" is an exclamatory particle. Katsuragi is the range along the border of Yamato and Kawachi.
Second line, "Takama no yama no": Mount Takama is Katsuragi's main peak, a poetic place sung as a mountain wreathed in clouds.
Third line, "sakurabana": the cherries blooming on Mount Takama, presenting the poem's theme.
Fourth line, "kumoi no yoso ni": "kumoi" is the far place where clouds are, and "yoso ni" means "as something distant that does not concern me."
Fifth line, "mite ya suginamu": the interrogative "ya" links with "namu," the irrealis of the intensive "nu" plus the attributive of conjectural "mu": "must I only look and pass by?"
Author: Fujiwara no Akisuke
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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