Ukiyo ni wa todomeokaji to harukaze no chirasu wa hana o oshimu narikeri

憂き世にはとどめおかじと春風の
散らすは花を惜しむなりけり

Roma-ji: Ukiyo ni wa todomeokaji to harukaze no chirasu wa hana o oshimu narikeri
English Translation: In this sorry world,
I will not leave them, it says,
the wind of the spring:
it is out of love for them
that it scatters all the blooms.
Meaning: Unwilling to leave them in this world of sorrow, the spring wind scatters the blossoms, and so it is, after all, out of love for them.
Commentary: Spring Poems 117

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
The poet turns the usual view around: the spring wind scatters the blossoms out of tenderness for them, unwilling to leave them lingering in this world of sorrow.
Where one would normally resent the wind that scatters flowers, he imagines instead that the wind, too, cherishes them and is rescuing them from the sorrowful world. Behind this reversal one senses the monk's own weariness of the world.

First line, “ukiyo ni wa”: in this world of sorrow.
Second line, “todomeokaji to”: ji expresses negative intention, not wishing to leave them.
Third line, “harukaze no”: the spring wind, subject of chirasu in the fourth line.
Fourth line, “chirasu wa hana o”: that it scatters the blossoms.
Fifth line, “oshimu narikeri”: it was out of love for them, closing with keri of realization that reveals the wind's true intent.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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