Yamazakura chiru o mite koso omoishire tazunenu hito wa kokoro arikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山桜散るを見てこそ思ひ知れ
尋ねぬ人は心ありけり

Roma-ji: Yamazakura chiru o mite koso omoishire tazunenu hito wa kokoro arikeri
English Translation: Mountain cherries:
only when I watched them fall
did I come to know
that those who never came
were the ones who truly felt
Meaning: Only on seeing the mountain cherries fall did I come to understand: those who never came to see them were the ones with true feeling.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 97

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a poem on blossoms"
Like the preceding poem, this was composed on the topic of "blossoms." Seeing the mountain cherries fall before his eyes, the poet realizes for the first time that those who do not come to view the blossoms stay away precisely because they know the sorrow of their falling, and so are in truth people of feeling. Overturning the common view that those who do not seek out blossoms lack sensibility, it voices the pain of watching them fall.
The author, "Minamoto no Nakatsuna," was the son of Minamoto no Yorimasa, and served as Governor of Izu among other posts. In 1180 he joined his father in raising arms against the Taira under Prince Mochihito, and took his own life after their defeat at Uji.

First line, "yamazakura": names the subject.
Second line, "chiru o mite koso": the emphatic "koso" links with "shire" in the third line: "precisely by seeing them fall."
Third line, "omoishire": the realized form of "omoishiru," closing the construction with "koso." The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "tazunenu hito wa": "those who do not come to visit the blossoms." Poem 102 of this book, "tou hito mo nashi," laments that no one visits once the blossoms have fallen.
Fifth line, "kokoro arikeri": "kokoro ari" means to have sensibility, and "keri" expresses discovery: the paradoxical finding that they stay away because they know the pain of falling blossoms. The sequence of five poems ends here.
Author: Minamoto no Nakatsuna
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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