Sora wataru kumo narikeri na Yoshinoyama hana mote wataru kaze to mitareba

空渡る雲なりけりな吉野山
花もて渡る風と見たれば

Roma-ji: Sora wataru kumo narikeri na Yoshinoyama hana mote wataru kaze to mitareba
English Translation: So it was the clouds
that were crossing the sky then!
On Mount Yoshino
I had taken it to be
the wind passing with blossoms.
Meaning: So it was clouds crossing the sky! On Mount Yoshino I had thought it was the wind passing by with blossoms in its arms.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 987

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
On Mount Yoshino, what I took for the wind carrying blossoms across was in fact clouds crossing the sky, the poet says. On the famed cherry mountain he mistakes white clouds for blossoms dancing on the wind, using the classic likening of blossoms and clouds.

First line, “sora wataru”: crossing the sky.
Second line, “kumo narikeri na”: narikeri marks realization and na is exclamatory; it was clouds; the poem breaks here.
Third line, “Yoshinoyama”: the famed cherry mountain in Yamato.
Fourth line, “hana mote wataru”: carrying blossoms as it crosses.
Fifth line, “kaze to mitareba”: since I took it for the wind, inverted to follow the second line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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