Tsukurioki shi koke no fusuma ni uguisu wa mi ni shimu ume no ka ya niouran

作りおきし苔の衾に鶯は
身にしむ梅の香や匂ふらん

Roma-ji: Tsukurioki shi koke no fusuma ni uguisu wa mi ni shimu ume no ka ya niouran
English Translation: In the nest it built,
a coverlet of soft moss,
does the warbler feel
the fragrance of the plum tree
sinking deep into its frame?
Meaning: In the coverlet of moss it built for itself, does the warbler lie steeped in the fragrance of the plum, sinking deep into its body?
Commentary: Spring Poems 42

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When a warbler sang in the plum tree"
Continuing from the preceding poem, this poem concerns the warbler singing in the plum tree. Likening the nest the warbler has built of moss to bedding, the poet imagines that, resting there, it must feel the plum's fragrance sinking deep into its body.
The charm lies in comparing the mossy nest to a human coverlet and treating the warbler as a person. Where the preceding poem joined plum scent and birdsong, this one imagines the warbler itself enveloped in the scent.

First line, “tsukurioki shi”: that it had made beforehand, a line with an extra syllable.
Second line, “koke no fusuma ni”: in a coverlet of moss, likening the warbler's nest to bedding.
Third line, “uguisu wa”: the warbler, subject of what follows.
Fourth line, “mi ni shimu ume no”: of the plum that sinks deep into the body.
Fifth line, “ka ya niouran”: the interrogative ya forms a kakari-musubi with the conjectural ran, closing with the question of whether the scent surrounds it.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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