吉野山ひとむら見ゆる白雲は
咲き遅れたる桜なるべし
咲き遅れたる桜なるべし
- Roma-ji
-
Yoshinoyama hitomura miyuru shirakumo wa sakiokuretaru sakura naru beshi
- English Translation
-
On Mount Yoshino,
one patch only can be seen,
a single white cloud:
it must be the cherry trees
that were slow to come in bloom.
- Meaning
- That single patch of white cloud visible on Mount Yoshino must be the cherries that were late to bloom.
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 142
Headnote: "Lingering blossoms on a distant mountain"
The topic is lingering blossoms on a distant mountain. Seeing one patch of white like a cloud on Mount Yoshino after the blossoms have fallen, the poet surmises that it must be cherries that bloomed later than the rest and still remain.
The conceit that filled Yoshino with white clouds at full bloom here portrays the few remaining cherries as a single patch of cloud. The end of the blossom season is found in a small whiteness on a distant mountain.
First line, “Yoshinoyama”: Mount Yoshino in Yamato, famed for its cherries.
Second line, “hitomura miyuru”: visible in a single patch.
Third line, “shirakumo wa”: that white cloud, likening the remaining cherries to a cloud.
Fourth line, “sakiokuretaru”: that bloomed later than the rest.
Fifth line, “sakura naru beshi”: must be cherries, closing with the conjectural beshi on what the cloud really is.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
-
Kozue utsu ame ni shiorete chiru hana no oshiki kokoro o nani ni tatoen
- Next Poem
-
Yoshinoyama hito ni kokoro o tsukegao ni hana yori saki ni kakaru shirakumo