Yoshinoyama hana wa nakaba ni chirinikeri taedae nokoru mine no shirakumo - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

吉野山花はなかばに散りにけり
絶え絶え残る峰の白雲

Roma-ji: Yoshinoyama hana wa nakaba ni chirinikeri taedae nokoru mine no shirakumo
English Translation: On Yoshino Mount
the blossoms have already
half fallen away:
here and there they still remain,
white clouds upon the peaks
Meaning: On Mount Yoshino the blossoms have already half fallen; what remains lingers here and there like broken white clouds on the peaks.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 80

Headnote: "Composed as a poem on blossoms when presenting a hundred-poem sequence"
Composed on "blossoms" for a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku. The cherries of Mount Yoshino have already half fallen, and on the peaks only patches of white-cloud blossoms remain here and there. Building on the tradition of likening Yoshino in full bloom to white clouds, the poem conveys the loneliness of blossoms beginning to fall through the image of those clouds breaking apart.
The author, "Fujiwara no Suemichi Ason," was the son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Munemichi and younger brother of Chancellor Fujiwara no Koremichi. He was also renowned as a master of the biwa and koto, and was one of the poets of Retired Emperor Sutoku's Kyūan Hundred-Poem Sequence.

First line, "Yoshinoyama": Mount Yoshino in Yamato, famed for cherries and a classic poetic place. The final poem of Book One, 76, praised Yoshino's blossoms at their height; this poem shows Yoshino after that peak.
Second line, "hana wa nakaba ni": "the blossoms, about half."
Third line, "chirinikeri": "ni" is the continuative form of the perfective "nu" and "keri" adds exclamation: "they have fallen." The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "taedae nokoru": "remaining in broken patches." Building on the image of full bloom as a sheet of white cloud, it sees half-fallen cherries in clouds torn apart.
Fifth line, "mine no shirakumo": ends on a noun, likening the remaining blossoms to white clouds. Where the preceding poem, 79, saw cherries on the peaks as white clouds, this poem shows those clouds breaking up.
Author: Fujiwara no Suemichi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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