吉野山高嶺の桜咲きそめば
かからんものか花の薄雲
かからんものか花の薄雲
- Roma-ji
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Yoshinoyama takane no sakura sakisomeba kakaran mono ka hana no usugumo
- English Translation
-
On Mount Yoshino,
when the cherries on high peaks
first begin to bloom,
will it hang across them so—
this thin cloud of blossoming?
- Meaning
- When the cherries on the high peaks of Mount Yoshino first begin to bloom, will a thin cloud of blossoms hang over them like this?
- Commentary
-
One Hundred Poems 1454
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on Blossoms"
The second of the ten poems on blossoms. He wonders whether, when the cherries on Yoshino's high peaks first open, a thin cloud of blossoms will seem to hang over the summit.
Its distinction lies in turning the traditional conceit of blossoms as clouds toward the early blooming he has not yet seen. Where the preceding poem looked at the trees after the petals had fallen, this one imagines the high peaks as blossoms first open, reversing both the order of time and the relation of high and low.
First line, “Yoshinoyama”: the same first line as the preceding poem, carrying on the setting of the set.
Second line, “takane no sakura”: cherries on the high peaks, paired against the “ko no moto” of the preceding poem as high against low.
Third line, “sakisomeba”: some means to begin, "if they begin to bloom."
Fourth line, “kakaran mono ka”: mono ka is a question tinged with wonder, "will it hang so?"
Fifth line, “hana no usugumo”: blossoms likened to a thin trailing cloud, ending on a noun.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
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Yoshinoyama hana no chirinishi ko no moto ni tomeshi kokoro wa ware o matsuran
- Next Poem
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Hito wa mina yoshino no yama e irinumeri miyako no hana ni ware wa tomaran