Obotsukana izure no yama no mine yori ka mataruru hana no sakihajimuran

おぼつかないづれの山の峰よりか
待たるる花の咲きはじむらん

Roma-ji: Obotsukana izure no yama no mine yori ka mataruru hana no sakihajimuran
English Translation: How it troubles me:
on which mountain's lofty peak,
from which one of them,
will the flowers I await
first begin to come in bloom?
Meaning: How uneasy I feel: from the peak of which mountain will the blossoms I long for first begin to open?
Commentary: Spring Poems 59

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Waiting for the blossoms"
This is the second poem on waiting for the blossoms. The poet frets over which mountain peak the longed-for cherries will first start blooming on.
The heart that, in the preceding poem, told itself to wait calmly is restless here after all, wondering where the blooming will begin. The pairing of the two poems traces the wavering of a waiting heart.

First line, “obotsukana”: the stem of the adjective obotsukanashi, how uneasy, an exclamation with a break after the first line.
Second line, “izure no yama no”: of which mountain.
Third line, “mine yori ka”: the interrogative ka forms a kakari-musubi with ran in the fifth line.
Fourth line, “mataruru hana no”: ruru is spontaneous, of the blossoms one cannot help waiting for.
Fifth line, “sakihajimuran”: will they begin to bloom, closing with the conjectural ran.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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