Fuku kaze ni taenu kozue no hana yori mo todomegataki wa namida narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

吹く風に堪へぬ梢の花よりも
留めがたきは涙なりけり

Roma-ji: Fuku kaze ni taenu kozue no hana yori mo todomegataki wa namida narikeri
English Translation: More than the blossoms
on boughs that cannot withstand
the wind as it blows,
what is hardest to hold back
are these tears of mine, I find
Meaning: Harder to hold back than the blossoms on the boughs that cannot withstand the blowing wind are these tears of mine, I find.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 849

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'love in terms of blossoms' at the house of the Lay Monk of Hosshōji, former Chancellor, when he was Palace Minister"
This poem was composed on the topic "love in terms of blossoms" at the house of Fujiwara no Tadamichi when he was Palace Minister. Harder to hold back than the blossoms on the boughs that cannot withstand the wind, he says, are my tears. Blossoms scattering in the wind are the very model of what cannot be held back, yet the tears of love are harder still to stop, and by comparing blossoms and tears he conveys the depth of love's sorrow. It is a poem that uses the "blossoms" of the topic as falling blossoms and turns them into the tears of love.
The author, "Minamoto no Masamitsu," was the son of Minister of the Right Minamoto no Akifusa. Of the Murakami Genji, he composed poems at poetry contests of the cloistered rule era. "The Lay Monk of Hosshōji, former Chancellor" in the headnote is Fujiwara no Tadamichi, who served as Regent and Chancellor, then took the tonsure and lived at Hosshōji.
The last line, "namida narikeri," is shared with 868, 872 and 890 in this book, so that poems singing of tears as something that cannot be stopped or dammed recur through the book.

First line, "fuku kaze ni": it shows the wind that scatters the blossoms.
Second line, "taenu kozue no": "of the boughs that cannot withstand the wind," expressing the precariousness of blossoms about to fall.
Third line, "hana yori mo": "yori" is a particle of comparison, "compared with the blossoms on the boughs." It answers to "blossoms" in the topic.
Fourth line, "todomegataki wa": "what is hard to hold back." Taking up the blossoms that cannot be kept from falling, it turns to the tears that cannot be stopped.
Fifth line, "namida narikeri": "keri" expresses the exclamation of realization, "it is my tears, I find." It is the same last line as 868, 872 and 890 in this book.
Author: Minamoto no Masamitsu
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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