Oraba ya to nani omowamashi ume no hana natsukashikaranu nioi nariseba

折らばやと何思はまし梅の花
なつかしからぬ匂ひなりせば

Roma-ji: Oraba ya to nani omowamashi ume no hana natsukashikaranu nioi nariseba
English Translation: 'I would break a spray,'
why would I ever think it,
O blossoms of plum,
if it were not so alluring,
this fragrance that you give forth?
Meaning: Why would I ever wish to break off a branch, plum blossoms, if your fragrance were not so alluring?
Commentary: Love Poems 595

Headnote: "Love expressed through the plum"
The topic is love expressed through the plum. If the scent of the plum blossoms were not so alluring, the poet says, he would never wish to break off a branch. The plum stands for the beloved, and the counterfactual shows a heart that cannot help longing for her because of her charm.

First line, “oraba ya to”: baya expresses one's own wish, I would break it off; the wish to make the beloved one's own is overlaid.
Second line, “nani omowamashi”: why would I think so? mashi is counterfactual and answers seba at the end.
Third line, “ume no hana”: an address to the plum blossoms, standing for the beloved and answering the topic; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “natsukashikaranu”: natsukashi is alluring, dear to the heart; here, not so.
Fifth line, “nioi nariseba”: nioi is the scent of the plum: if it were such a scent, returning in inversion to the upper verse.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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