Harusame ni chiru hana mireba kakikurashi mizoreshi sora no kokochi koso sure - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春雨に散る花見ればかきくらし
みぞれし空の心地こそすれ

Roma-ji: Harusame ni chiru hana mireba kakikurashi mizoreshi sora no kokochi koso sure
English Translation: Seeing the blossoms
scattered by the falling
spring rain, I feel
as if beneath a dark sky
from which sleet was pouring down
Meaning: When I see the blossoms falling in the spring rain, I feel as though I were beneath a darkened winter sky pouring down sleet.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 82

Headnote: "Composed in the reign of Emperor Go-Suzaku when the courtiers went blossom viewing in the Eastern Hills and, as it began to rain, stopped at the Shirakawa residence where each composed a poem"
In the reign of Emperor Go-Suzaku, the courtiers went to view blossoms in the Eastern Hills, but when rain began to fall they stopped at the Shirakawa residence and each composed a poem; this is one of them. Watching blossoms fall in the spring rain, the poet feels as if under a darkened sky from which sleet once poured. The device lies in seeing white petals mingling with the rain as sleet, a mixture of rain and snow.
The author, "Major Counselor Nagaie," is Fujiwara no Nagaie, son of Fujiwara no Michinaga, who rose to Provisional Major Counselor. He founded the Mikohidari house and was the great-grandfather of Fujiwara no Shunzei, compiler of the Senzai Wakashū.

First line, "harusame ni": taking up the rain in the headnote, "struck by the spring rain."
Second line, "chiru hana mireba": the realized condition, "when I see the blossoms falling."
Third line, "kakikurashi": "darkening the whole sky," describing heavens covered by rain clouds.
Fourth line, "mizoreshi sora no": "shi" is the attributive past auxiliary, "of a sky where sleet fell." White petals mixed with rain are likened to sleet. Where the preceding poems depicted blossoms falling in fair weather, this one shows them falling in the rain.
Fifth line, "kokochi koso sure": "koso" closes with the realized form "sure," stressing the surprise of feeling a winter sky in the midst of a spring scene.
Author: Fujiwara no Nagaie
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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