Obotsukana tani wa sakura no ika naran mine ni wa imada kakenu shirakumo

おぼつかな谷は桜のいかならん
峰にはいまだかけぬ白雲

Roma-ji: Obotsukana tani wa sakura no ika naran mine ni wa imada kakenu shirakumo
English Translation: How it troubles me:
in the valleys, the cherries,
how might they be now?
On the peaks there still hang none
of the white clouds of their bloom.
Meaning: How uneasy I feel: what of the cherries in the valleys now? On the peaks no white clouds of blossom hang as yet.
Commentary: Spring Poems 146

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing fifteen poems on cherry blossoms"
There is still no sign of cloud-like cherries on the peaks, and the poet wonders how the cherries in the warmer valleys might be faring.
Contrasting peak and valley, he turns his thoughts from the unopened blossoms of the peaks to the valley flowers that may have bloomed first. The first line obotsukana is the same as in 59; there the poet wondered which peak would bloom first, while here he wonders about the valley before the peaks.

First line, “obotsukana”: the stem of the adjective obotsukanashi, how uneasy, an exclamation with a break after the first line.
Second line, “tani wa sakura no”: in the valleys, the cherries, contrasted with the peaks.
Third line, “ika naran”: how might they be, with the conjectural n and a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “mine ni wa imada”: on the peaks, not yet.
Fifth line, “kakenu shirakumo”: closing on a noun, the white clouds of blossom not yet hanging on the peaks.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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