Suguru haru shio no mitsu yori funade shite nami no hana o ya saki ni tatsuran

過ぐる春潮のみつより船出して
波の花をや先に立つらん

Roma-ji: Suguru haru shio no mitsu yori funade shite nami no hana o ya saki ni tatsuran
English Translation: Spring as it goes by,
from Mitsu where the tide's full
sets out on the sea:
does it send ahead of it
blossoms of the cresting waves?
Meaning: Departing spring sets sail from Mitsu as the tide comes in. Does it send the white blossoms of the waves out ahead of it?
Commentary: Spring Poems 170

Headnote: "When I had gone to Ise, at a place called Mitsu, the shrine priests composed poems on the topic “Dusk by the sea”"
According to the headnote, when the poet went to Ise, he composed this with the shrine priests at a place called Mitsu on the topic of dusk by the sea, treating it as the close of spring. He imagines that the departing spring sets sail from the bay of Mitsu at high tide, sending the white blossoms of the breaking waves on ahead.
Mitsu is a pivot word for the tide coming in and the place name Mitsu, and spring is likened to a traveller setting out by ship. It is a seaside poem of late spring, portraying the departing season as a voyage led by blossoms of foam.

First line, “suguru haru”: the passing spring, personifying the season.
Second line, “shio no mitsu yori”: mitsu is a pivot word for the tide coming in and the place name Mitsu in Ise.
Third line, “funade shite”: setting out by ship, likening departing spring to a sea voyage.
Fourth line, “nami no hana o ya”: the blossoms of the waves, seeing white breakers as flowers; the interrogative ya forms a kakari-musubi with ran in the fifth line.
Fifth line, “saki ni tatsuran”: does it send them ahead, closing with the conjectural ran.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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