Yama no ha no kasumu keshiki ni shiruki kana kesa yori ya sa wa haru no akebono

山の端の霞むけしきにしるきかな
今朝よりやさは春の曙

Roma-ji: Yama no ha no kasumu keshiki ni shiruki kana kesa yori ya sa wa haru no akebono
English Translation: On the mountain's rim,
in the haze that veils it now,
how plain it appears:
from this morning, can it be,
this is spring's first light of dawn?
Meaning: How plainly it shows in the haze along the mountain's rim! Then from this very morning, has it become the dawn of spring?
Commentary: Spring Poems 2

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the morning when spring arrived"
Like the preceding poem, this one belongs to the morning of the first day of spring. Seeing a faint haze along the ridgeline, the poet feels that spring has unmistakably arrived, and wonders whether, from this morning on, this is already the dawn of spring.
Where the preceding poem welcomed spring in a dream, this poem finds it in the actual landscape upon waking, so the sequence moves from dream to reality. The closing words, haru no akebono, name the hour long cherished as the very essence of spring, and placing them on the first morning of the season marks a fresh beginning.

First line, “yama no ha no”: yama no ha is the ridgeline, where mountain meets sky, and the place where spring haze first appears.
Second line, “kasumu keshiki ni”: the sight of the haze settling in; haze is the sign that announces spring.
Third line, “shiruki kana”: shirushi means clearly evident, and the exclamatory kana stresses how plainly spring shows in the haze, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “kesa yori ya sa wa”: sa wa means then, drawing a conclusion from the third line, and ya marks the question.
Fifth line, “haru no akebono”: the poem closes on a noun, confirming the first dawn of the new season.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Toshi kurenu haru kubeshi to wa omoine ni masashiku miete kanau hatsuyume
Next Poem: Haru tatsu to omoi mo aenu asaide ni itsushika kasumu Otowayama kana