Arashi fuku Shiga no yamabe no sakurabana chireba kumoi ni sazanami zo tatsu - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

嵐吹く志賀の山辺の桜花
散れば雲居にさざ浪ぞ立つ

Roma-ji: Arashi fuku Shiga no yamabe no sakurabana chireba kumoi ni sazanami zo tatsu
English Translation: Where the storm wind blows
on the mountainside of Shiga,
the cherry blossoms
scatter, and across the sky
little rippling waves arise
Meaning: When the cherry blossoms on the storm-swept slopes of Shiga scatter, little rippling waves seem to rise across the sky.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 87

Headnote: "Composed as a poem on blossoms when presenting fifteen poems in the reign of Emperor Sutoku"
Composed on "blossoms" for a set of fifteen poems presented in the reign of Emperor Sutoku. When the cherries on the mountainside of Shiga scatter in the storm wind, the petals filling the sky look as if little waves were rising in the heavens. Shiga lies on the shore of Lake Biwa, and "sazanami," rippling waves, is also a word attached to Shiga. Moving the lake's waves into the sky, the poem boldly sees a blizzard of blossoms as waves in the air.
The author, "Captain of the Right Military Guards Kinyuki," is Fujiwara no Kinyuki, son of Chancellor Fujiwara no Saneyuki, who served as Captain of the Right Military Guards and rose to Provisional Middle Counselor.
This poem and the next two, through 89, form a sequence set in Shiga in Ōmi, each overlaying falling blossoms with the waves of the lake. This poem sees waves and flowers in the sky, the next on the peaks, and the one after on the lake itself, varying the same conceit by place.

First line, "arashi fuku": a fierce wind blowing down from the mountains, the cause of the falling blossoms.
Second line, "Shiga no yamabe no": Shiga is a place in Ōmi on the western shore of Lake Biwa and a classic poetic place.
Third line, "sakurabana": names the subject, cherry blossoms.
Fourth line, "chireba kumoi ni": "kumoi" means the sky, where the clouds are, showing the fallen petals filling the heavens.
Fifth line, "sazanami zo tatsu": "sazanami" are small rippling waves and also serve as a pillow word for Shiga. Transferring the lake's waves to the sky, the poem likens the whirling blossoms to ripples. "Zo" closes with the attributive "tatsu."
Author: Fujiwara no Kinyuki
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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