Fuku kaze o Nakoso no seki to omoedomo michi mo se ni chiru yamazakura kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

吹く風をなこその関と思へども
道もせに散る山桜かな

Roma-ji: Fuku kaze o Nakoso no seki to omoedomo michi mo se ni chiru yamazakura kana
English Translation: I thought the wind
would heed the barrier's name,
Nakoso, "Come not,"
yet cherries of the mountain
fall to choke the road
Meaning: I thought this was the Nakoso Barrier, whose name tells the wind "Do not come," yet the mountain cherries are falling so thickly that they choke the road.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 103

Headnote: "Composed when the blossoms were falling at the Nakoso Barrier as I went down to Michinoku"
Composed on the way down to the province of Michinoku, when the blossoms were falling at the Nakoso Barrier. Since this barrier bears a name meaning "Do not come," the poet thought that even the wind that scatters blossoms would not come, yet the mountain cherries are falling so thickly they choke the road. Playing on the meaning in the barrier's name, it conveys in a warrior's generous tone the force of falling blossoms that not even the barrier can stop.
The author, "Minamoto no Yoshiie Ason," was the son of Minamoto no Yoriyoshi. A warrior known as Hachiman Tarō, he distinguished himself in the Former Nine Years' War and the Later Three Years' War and served as Governor of Mutsu.
The Nakoso Barrier was an old checkpoint at the entrance to Michinoku, famed in poetry for the play on its name as "do not come." This poem is celebrated as a representative example.

First line, "fuku kaze o": "the blowing wind," the wind that scatters the blossoms.
Second line, "Nakoso no seki to": "nakoso" is a pivot word, both the name of the barrier in Michinoku and "na ko so," "do not come." Thus: "thinking it the barrier that tells the wind not to come."
Third line, "omoedomo": "domo" is concessive, "though I thought so."
Fourth line, "michi mo se ni chiru": "se ni" means "so as to make narrow," blossoms falling so thickly they fill the road.
Fifth line, "yamazakura kana": "kana" is exclamatory, holding the surprise that even the barrier's name could not stop the wind. Where 101 and 102 depicted falling blossoms in villages without visitors, this poem shows those met at a barrier on a journey.
Author: Minamoto no Yoshiie
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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