Ko no moto ni tabine o sureba Yoshinoyama hana no fusuma o kisuru harukaze

木の下に旅寝をすれば吉野山
花の衾を着する春風

Roma-ji: Ko no moto ni tabine o sureba Yoshinoyama hana no fusuma o kisuru harukaze
English Translation: Under the cherry
when I sleep upon my way,
on Mount Yoshino,
a coverlet of blossoms
the spring breeze lays over me.
Meaning: When I sleep beneath the trees on my travels on Mount Yoshino, the spring breeze lays a coverlet of blossoms over me.
Commentary: Spring Poems 125

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
As the poet sleeps beneath the cherry trees of Mount Yoshino on his travels, the spring breeze scatters petals over him as if laying a coverlet of blossoms upon him.
The falling petals are likened to bedding, and the spring wind is personified as one who cares for the traveller. Taking up the preceding poem's wish to spend the night buried in blossoms, this one paints the charm of sleeping on the road wrapped in a coverlet of flowers. In 42 a warbler's nest was likened to a coverlet of moss; here the petals become a coverlet for a person.

First line, “ko no moto ni”: beneath the cherry tree.
Second line, “tabine o sureba”: when I sleep on my travels.
Third line, “Yoshinoyama”: Mount Yoshino in Yamato, the place of this night's rest.
Fourth line, “hana no fusuma o”: a coverlet of blossoms, likening the falling petals to bedding.
Fifth line, “kisuru harukaze”: the poem closes on a noun, the spring breeze that lays the coverlet of flowers over the sleeper.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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