Kuchinashi no iro ni zo sumeru yamabuki no hana no shita yuku Ide no kawamizu - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

くちなしの色にぞ澄める山吹の
花の下行く井手の川水

Roma-ji: Kuchinashi no iro ni zo sumeru yamabuki no hana no shita yuku Ide no kawamizu
English Translation: In the gardenia's
yellow hue it flows so clear,
beneath the kerria
blossoms as it passes by,
the river water of Ide
Meaning: Flowing beneath the kerria blossoms, the waters of the Ide River run clear, tinged the yellow of gardenia.
Commentary: Book Two Spring Poems II 115

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the topic 'Kerria by the Water'"
Like the preceding poem, this was composed on the topic "Kerria by the Water." The waters of the Ide River, flowing beneath the kerria blossoms, reflect their color and run clear, as yellow as if dyed with gardenia. Drawing on the tradition of calling the kerria's color gardenia yellow, the conceit that the river water itself runs clear in kerria yellow conveys the beauty of the kerria at Ide.
The author, "Fujiwara no Sadatsune," is a figure whose life is not well known.
Ever since the Kokin Wakashū poem by Sosei, "Robe the color of kerria, who is your master? I ask, but you do not answer, being gardenia-dyed," the kerria's color has been linked with "kuchinashi," gardenia, which also suggests "kuchi nashi," mouthless.

First line, "kuchinashi no": "kuchinashi" is a pivot word for the color of gardenia fruit, a yellow dye, and "mouthless" or silent. Calling the kerria's yellow gardenia color, it adds the sense of the waters of Ide, home of singing frogs, running silent and clear.
Second line, "iro ni zo sumeru": the emphatic "zo" closes with the attributive "sumeru." Following "fukaki iro wa miekeru" in the preceding poem, 114, it describes the kerria's color reflected in water. The poem pauses here and is inverted with the lines that follow.
Third line, "yamabuki no": modifies "hana" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "hana no shita yuku": "flowing beneath the blossoms."
Fifth line, "Ide no kawamizu": ends on a noun, the same words as the second line of 111 in this book, showing the waters of Ide, famed for kerria, running clear in the flowers' color.
Author: Fujiwara no Sadatsune
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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