Nami mo naku kaze o osameshi Shirakawa no kimi no ori mo ya hana wa chiriken

波もなく風ををさめし白河の
君の折もや花は散りけん

Roma-ji: Nami mo naku kaze o osameshi Shirakawa no kimi no ori mo ya hana wa chiriken
English Translation: Without any waves,
he who stilled the very winds,
Shirakawa's lord:
even in that reign, I wonder,
did the blossoms fall as well?
Meaning: Even in the reign of the Shirakawa sovereign, who ruled so well that no waves rose and the winds were stilled, did the blossoms fall?
Commentary: Spring Poems 107

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
The poet wonders whether, even in the reign of the Retired Emperor Shirakawa, who is said to have governed without a ripple of unrest, the blossoms still fell.
Taking up the preceding poem's wish for an emperor who would decree that flowers not fall, it asks whether even a ruler able to still the winds of the world could stop the scattering of blossoms. Nami and kaze echo the river in the place name Shirakawa, and the poem is built on these associations of words.

First line, “nami mo naku”: with no waves, meaning the realm was at peace.
Second line, “kaze o osameshi”: who stilled the winds of the world; kaze is also what scatters blossoms, echoing the falling flowers at the end.
Third line, “Shirakawa no”: referring to the Retired Emperor Shirakawa; the river in the place name links with nami in the first line.
Fourth line, “kimi no ori mo ya”: even in that sovereign's time; the interrogative ya forms a kakari-musubi with ken in the fifth line.
Fifth line, “hana wa chiriken”: did the blossoms fall, closing with the past conjectural ken.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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