Chiru hana o kyō no ayame no ne ni kakete kusudama to mo ya iu bekaruran

散る花を今日のあやめの根にかけて
薬玉ともや言ふべかるらん

Roma-ji: Chiru hana o kyō no ayame no ne ni kakete kusudama to mo ya iu bekaruran
English Translation: The falling blossoms,
on the irises of today,
hung upon their roots:
should we rather call them, then,
scented balls of the festival?
Meaning: Since the falling blossoms hang upon the roots of today's festival irises, should we not rather call them kusudama, the festival's scented balls?
Commentary: Summer Poems 203

Headnote: "A page at the lodging, hearing this"
The headnote tells us this is a reply composed by a page at the lodging who heard the preceding poem. Taking up the jest that irises scattered with cherry petals might be called flowering irises, the page answers that since the falling blossoms hang on the roots of today's irises, they should rather be called kusudama.
Kusudama were decorations for the fifth day festival, bags of incense adorned with irises, mugwort and other plants and hung with five-coloured threads on pillars. Answering iu bekaruran with the same closing words, the page turns the flowering irises into kusudama, making an exchange of wit.
The author is a page serving at the lodging whose name has not come down, so no author name is given.

First line, “chiru hana o”: takes up the cherry petals falling on the irises in the preceding poem.
Second line, “kyō no ayame no”: kyō, today, is the fifth day of the Fifth Month, the Tango festival.
Third line, “ne ni kakete”: hanging the blossoms on the roots of the irises, likened to the decoration of a kusudama.
Fourth line, “kusudama to mo ya”: likening them to the kusudama of the festival; ya marks a question.
Fifth line, “iu bekaruran”: repeats the closing line of the preceding poem, retorting that they should rather be called kusudama than flowering irises.
Source: Sankashu
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