Choku to ka ya kudasu mikado no imase kashi saraba osorete hana ya chiranu to

勅とかや下す帝のいませかし
さらば恐れて花や散らぬと

Roma-ji: Choku to ka ya kudasu mikado no imase kashi saraba osorete hana ya chiranu to
English Translation: If only there were
an emperor to issue
an imperial command,
then in awe of it, perhaps,
the flowers would not fall.
Meaning: If only there were an emperor to issue a decree, for then, in awe of it, the blossoms might not scatter.
Commentary: Spring Poems 106

Headnote: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
This poem comes from a time when the poet composed many poems on falling blossoms, and thirty such poems follow under this headnote. If only there were an emperor to issue a decree ordering the flowers not to fall, he says, for then they might be awed into staying.
In the human world an emperor's command is absolute, yet no one's power reaches the blossoms. Knowing the impossibility, the poet expresses through this bold idea a grief for falling flowers so great that he would cling even to an imperial decree.

First line, “choku to ka ya”: what they call an imperial decree, invoking the emperor's command.
Second line, “kudasu mikado no”: an emperor who would issue it.
Third line, “imase kashi”: kashi presses the wish, if only there were, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “saraba osorete”: then, in awe.
Fifth line, “hana ya chiranu to”: the interrogative ya, thinking the flowers might not fall, giving in inverted order the reason for the third line's wish.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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