白川の梢を見てぞ慰むる
吉野の山に通ふ心を
吉野の山に通ふ心を
- Roma-ji
-
Shirakawa no kozue o mite zo nagusamuru Yoshino no yama ni kayou kokoro o
- English Translation
-
In Shirakawa's
treetops it is that I find
solace for myself,
for the heart that ever goes
to the hills of Yoshino.
- Meaning
- It is by looking at the treetops of Shirakawa that I comfort my heart, which keeps making its way to the hills of Yoshino.
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 69
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on cherry blossoms"
Looking at the cherries of Shirakawa in the capital, the poet comforts a heart that keeps travelling to the distant blossoms of Yoshino. For one drawn to Yoshino yet unable to go at once, the nearby cherries of Shirakawa soothe that longing.
Shirakawa, east of the capital, was a famous place for cherries. Contrasting distant Yoshino with nearby Shirakawa, the poem shows the heart's pull toward Yoshino to be so strong that it needs consoling.
First line, “Shirakawa no”: of Shirakawa, east of the capital, known for its cherries.
Second line, “kozue o mite zo”: the emphatic zo forms a kakari-musubi with the attributive nagusamuru in the third line.
Third line, “nagusamuru”: I console, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “Yoshino no yama ni”: to the far-off mountains of Yoshino in Yamato.
Fifth line, “kayou kokoro o”: the heart that travels there, naming in inverted order what is consoled.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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Hana mireba sono iware to wa nakeredomo kokoro no uchi zo kurushikarikeru
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Shirakawa no haru no kozue no uguisu wa hana no kotoba o kiku kokochi suru