誰かまた花を尋ねて吉野山
苔踏み分くる岩伝ふらん
苔踏み分くる岩伝ふらん
- Roma-ji
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Tare ka mata hana o tazunete Yoshinoyama koke fumiwakuru iwa tsutauran
- English Translation
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Who else might there be,
seeking blossoms just like me,
on Mount Yoshino,
treading through the mossy ground,
crossing over rock to rock?
- Meaning
- Who else, I wonder, is seeking the blossoms on Mount Yoshino, treading through the moss and making his way from rock to rock?
- Commentary
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Spring Poems 57
Headnote: "Seeking mountain blossoms alone"
The topic is seeking mountain blossoms alone. Treading the mossy rocks of Mount Yoshino in search of blossoms, the poet wonders who else, besides himself, might be picking a way along such a mountain path in search of flowers.
The figure following a rugged path deep in the mountains in search of blossoms shows both the solitude and the single-mindedness of one devoted to the cherry. Yoshino is famous for its cherries, and it will appear again and again in the cherry blossom poems that follow.
First line, “tare ka mata”: who else besides me; the interrogative ka forms a kakari-musubi with ran in the fifth line.
Second line, “hana o tazunete”: seeking out the cherry blossoms.
Third line, “Yoshinoyama”: Mount Yoshino in Yamato, famed for its cherries.
Fourth line, “koke fumiwakuru”: treading through the moss, a path deep in the mountains where no one goes.
Fifth line, “iwa tsutauran”: might be making his way from rock to rock, closing with the conjectural ran in answer to ka.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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