山桜霞こめたるありかをば
つらきものから風ぞ知らする
つらきものから風ぞ知らする
- Roma-ji
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Yamazakura kasumi kometaru arika o ba tsuraki mono kara kaze zo shirasuru
- English Translation
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Mountain cherries
where the haze has hidden them,
though it is cruel,
it is the wind, after all,
that tells me where they are
- Meaning
- Though the wind is cruel to the blossoms, it is the wind that tells me where the mountain cherries lie hidden in the haze.
- Commentary
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Book One Spring Poems I 57
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a poem on blossoms when presenting a hundred-poem sequence to Retired Emperor Sutoku"
Like the preceding poem, this is a "blossoms" poem from the hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku. It says that the wind, cruel for scattering the flowers, nonetheless reveals by carrying their scent where the mountain cherries lie hidden in the haze. The conceit finds merit even in the hateful wind, since it shows where the blossoms are.
The author, "Former Consultant Norinaga," is Fujiwara no Norinaga, son of Major Counselor Fujiwara no Tadanori, who rose to Consultant. A close attendant of Retired Emperor Sutoku, he was exiled to Hitachi after the Hōgen Disturbance. He was also a fine calligrapher.
First line, "yamazakura": names the subject at the outset.
Second line, "kasumi kometaru": "kome" means to enfold and hide, and "taru" is the attributive of the continuative "tari": "hidden within the haze."
Third line, "arika o ba": "arika" is the place where something is, and "o ba" is emphatic.
Fourth line, "tsuraki mono kara": "mono kara" is concessive, "though it is cruel," since it scatters the flowers. 48 in this book wished the haze would hold off the wind, whereas here the wind reveals the blossoms the haze hides, a pair in which the roles of haze and wind are reversed.
Fifth line, "kaze zo shirasuru": "zo" closes with the attributive "shirasuru." The wind makes known where the blossoms are by means of their scent.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Norinaga
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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