Yoshinoyama hokiji tsutai ni tazuneirite hana mishi haru wa hitomukashi kamo

吉野山ほき路伝ひに尋ね入りて
花見し春はひと昔かも

Roma-ji: Yoshinoyama hokiji tsutai ni tazuneirite hana mishi haru wa hitomukashi kamo
English Translation: On Mount Yoshino,
following the cliffside path,
I made my way deep,
and the spring I saw the blooms,
has it grown so long ago?
Meaning: That spring when I made my way deep into Mount Yoshino along the cliffside paths and saw the blossoms, has it already become a thing of long ago?
Commentary: Spring Poems 96

Headnote: "When the blossoms at a mountain temple were in full bloom, remembering the past"
According to the headnote, this poem was composed when the blossoms at a mountain temple were in full bloom and the poet remembered the past. He recalls the spring he once picked his way deep into Mount Yoshino along steep cliffside paths to see the blossoms, and wonders whether that has already become a thing of long ago.
The blossoms of the temple before him call up memories of Yoshino's flowers from his younger days. Using the same words Yoshinoyama and tazuneirite as 62, the poem looks back on the Yoshino blossoms he once sought out, now as a distant memory.

First line, “Yoshinoyama”: Mount Yoshino in Yamato, famed for its cherries.
Second line, “hokiji tsutai ni”: following the steep path along the cliffs.
Third line, “tazuneirite”: searching my way deep in, a line with an extra syllable and the same phrase as the third line of 62.
Fourth line, “hana mishi haru wa”: the spring when I saw the blossoms; shi, from the past ki, marks a past actually lived.
Fifth line, “hitomukashi kamo”: kamo is an exclamatory question, has it become long ago, closing the poem.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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