Yamazakura oshimu kokoro no ikutabi ka chiru ko no moto ni yukikakaruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山桜惜しむ心のいくたびか
散る木のもとに行きかかるらん

Roma-ji: Yamazakura oshimu kokoro no ikutabi ka chiru ko no moto ni yukikakaruran
English Translation: Mountain cherries:
how many times, I wonder,
has my grieving heart
wandered off and come to rest
beneath the falling trees?
Meaning: How many times, I wonder, does my heart, grieving for the mountain cherries, find its way to the foot of the trees where the blossoms are falling?
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 81

Headnote: "Composed on cherries for the poetry contest at the Kayanoin residence of the Former Chancellor in the eighth year of Kanji"
Composed on "cherries" for the poetry contest held in 1094 at the Kayanoin, residence of the Former Chancellor Fujiwara no Morozane. The poet wonders how many times her heart, grieving for the falling mountain cherries, has gone off to the foot of the trees where the blossoms scatter. Though her body stays still, her heart alone is drawn again and again to the falling flowers, expressing an inexhaustible love for the cherries.
The author, "Naishi Suō," is Suō no Naishi, daughter of Taira no Munenaka, Governor of Suō. She served as a lady of the palace staff under four emperors, from Go-Reizei to Horikawa, and a poem of hers is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The Kayanoin Seven-Round Poetry Contest of 1094, sponsored by Fujiwara no Morozane, was a large-scale event and one of the representative poetry gatherings of the cloistered-rule period.

First line, "yamazakura": mountain cherries, the subject of the poem.
Second line, "oshimu kokoro no": "no" marks the subject, "the grieving heart." Making the heart the subject portrays it as if it moved on its own.
Third line, "ikutabi ka": the interrogative "ka" links with "ran" in the last line, posing repetition as a question: "how many times."
Fourth line, "chiru ko no moto ni": "to the foot of the trees where blossoms fall." Like "ko no moto ni" in the book's opening poem, 77, it depicts the ground beneath a tree strewn with petals.
Fifth line, "yukikakaruran": "ran" is the attributive form of present conjecture "ramu," closing the construction with "ka." It surmises the heart arriving at the falling blossoms.
Author: Suo no Naishi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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