吉野川みかさはさしもまさらじを
青根を越すや花の白波
青根を越すや花の白波
- Roma-ji
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Yoshinogawa mikasa wa sashimo masaraji o Aone o kosu ya hana no shiranami
- English Translation
-
The Yoshino River
can hardly have risen so high
in its swelling waters,
yet over Aone they surge,
the white waves of blossoms
- Meaning
- The waters of the Yoshino River can hardly have risen so high, yet do they surge over Aone Peak, these white waves of blossoms?
- Commentary
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Book One Spring Poems I 65
Headnote: "Composed when people composed poems for the Kasuga Shrine poetry contest"
Composed when people wrote poems for a contest dedicated to the Kasuga Shrine, this poem says that although the Yoshino River can hardly have risen so far, white waves seem to be cresting Aone Peak high in the mountains; they are the white waves of cherries blooming everywhere. It is a bold conceit that likens the white cherries filling Mount Yoshino to river waves surging over a peak.
The author, "the monk Kenshō," was the priest Kenshō, adopted son of Master of the Western Capital Fujiwara no Akisuke. A scholar of the Rokujō Fujiwara school, he wrote many treatises and commentaries on poetry.
First line, "Yoshinogawa": the river flowing at the foot of Mount Yoshino, a poetic place.
Second line, "mikasa wa sashimo": "mikasa" is the volume of water in a river, and "sashimo" means "so very much."
Third line, "masaraji o": "ji" is negative conjecture and "o" concessive: "though it surely has not risen."
Fourth line, "Aone o kosu ya": Aone is Aone Peak deep in the Yoshino mountains. "Ya" asks, "are they crossing it?"
Fifth line, "hana no shiranami": ending on a noun, it likens the white cherries blooming in rows to white waves. 68 in this book also sees cherries as "okitsu shiranami," so poems likening blossoms to white waves are placed together.
- Author
- Kenshō
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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