Magau iro ni hana sakinureba Yoshinoyama haru wa haresenu mine no shirakumo

まがふ色に花咲きぬれば吉野山
春は晴れせぬ峰の白雲

Roma-ji: Magau iro ni hana sakinureba Yoshinoyama haru wa haresenu mine no shirakumo
English Translation: In a hue like clouds
the blossoms have come to bloom
on Mount Yoshino:
all through spring they never clear,
the white clouds upon the peaks.
Meaning: Since the blossoms have opened in a color one could take for clouds, all spring long on Mount Yoshino the white clouds on the peaks never clear away.
Commentary: Spring Poems 65

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on cherry blossoms"
This poem likens the full-blown cherries of Mount Yoshino to white clouds on the peaks. Because the blossoms have opened in a color indistinguishable from clouds, it seems that white clouds hang over Yoshino's peaks all through spring, never clearing.
The last line mine no shirakumo takes up kakaru shirakumo from the preceding poem; where that poem showed full bloom across all the mountains, this one focuses the same conceit on Yoshino alone. Saying the clouds will not clear while the flowers last also hints at a wish that full bloom may long continue.

First line, “magau iro ni”: in a color hard to tell from clouds, a line with an extra syllable.
Second line, “hana sakinureba”: since the cherries have bloomed.
Third line, “Yoshinoyama”: Mount Yoshino in Yamato, famed for its cherries.
Fourth line, “haru wa haresenu”: that do not clear all through the spring, the blossoms seen as clouds.
Fifth line, “mine no shirakumo”: closing on a noun, likening the cherries to white clouds as in the last line of the preceding poem.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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