Hitoeda wa orite kaeramu yamazakura kaze ni nomi ya wa chirashihatsubeki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

一枝は折りて帰らむ山桜
風にのみやは散らし果つべき

Roma-ji: Hitoeda wa orite kaeramu yamazakura kaze ni nomi ya wa chirashihatsubeki
English Translation: This one branch at least
I will break and carry home,
O mountain cherry:
should the wind alone be left
to scatter you completely?
Meaning: At least this one branch I will break off and take home, mountain cherry. Should the wind alone be allowed to scatter every last blossom?
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 94

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a poem on blossoms"
Like the preceding poem, this was composed on the topic of "blossoms." Since the wind will scatter the blossoms anyway, the poet resolves to break off at least one branch and take it home, refusing to let the wind alone strip the mountain cherry bare. Against the traditional reluctance to break flowering branches, it expresses a strong love that would rather keep the blossoms by one's own hand than lose them to the wind.
The author, "Minamoto no Arifusa," was the son of Minamoto no Moroyuki, Minister of the Treasury. After serving as Governor of Satsuma and Lesser Captain of the Inner Palace Guards, he rose to Middle Captain of the Right Inner Palace Guards.

First line, "hitoeda wa": "wa" limits and stresses: whatever else, at least this one branch.
Second line, "orite kaeramu": "mu" expresses will: "I will break it and go home."
Third line, "yamazakura": an address to the mountain cherry; the poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "kaze ni nomi ya wa": "nomi" limits and "ya wa" is a rhetorical particle, "should it be the wind alone," linking with "beki" in the last line.
Fifth line, "chirashihatsubeki": "hatsu" means to do completely, and "beki" is the attributive of propriety, closing the construction with "ya wa." It strongly denies that the wind alone should scatter them all.
Author: Minamoto no Arifusa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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