Tada wa ochide eda o tsutaeru arare kana tsubomeru hana no chiru kokochi shite

ただは落ちで枝を伝へる霰かな
つぼめる花の散る心地して

Roma-ji: Tada wa ochide eda o tsutaeru arare kana tsubomeru hana no chiru kokochi shite
English Translation: Not falling straight down,
running along the branches,
oh, the hail stones!
as if buds upon the bough
were scattering to the ground.
Meaning: The hail does not simply fall but runs along the branches, as though the cherry's tightly closed buds were scattering.
Commentary: Winter Poems 546

Headnote: "On seeing hail bounding off a cherry tree"
The headnote tells us this was composed on seeing hail strike a cherry tree and bounce off it. The hail does not fall straight down but rolls along the branches of the cherry, looking as if its still-closed buds were scattering. The small white hailstones rolling on the branches are likened to cherry buds.
Where 512 in this book saw mountain cherries laden with the first snow as blooming, this poem sees hail running along cherry branches as buds scattering, sharing the device of laying winter's falling things over the cherry tree.

First line, “tada wa ochide”: a hypermetric line of six syllables, with de a negative conjunctive, not simply falling straight down.
Second line, “eda o tsutaeru”: tsutau is to move along, and ru is the attributive of the continuative ri.
Third line, “arare kana”: kana is exclamatory, and the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “tsubomeru hana no”: tsubomu is for a flower to be in bud, and ru is the attributive of the continuative ri.
Fifth line, “chiru kokochi shite”: with the feeling of them scattering, likening the hail to falling buds; this stands in inversion to the first three lines.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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