Yamazakura tsubomi hajimuru hana no e ni haru o ba komete kasumu narikeri

山桜つぼみ始むる花の枝に
春をばこめて霞むなりけり

Roma-ji: Yamazakura tsubomi hajimuru hana no e ni haru o ba komete kasumu narikeri
English Translation: Mountain cherry boughs,
where the blossom buds begin
now to swell and form—
all of spring is held within,
and so the haze lies over them.
Meaning: On the branches of the mountain cherry just beginning to bud, all of spring is held within, and so they lie veiled in haze.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1537

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Buddhist Poems: Three on the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings"
The second of the three poems on the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings. On mountain cherry branches just beginning to bud, all of spring is held within, veiled in haze.
The scene of all spring enclosed within buds not yet open seems to figure the Sutra of Innumerable Meanings, preached before the Lotus and holding its teaching within. The mountain cherry sung in the blossom poems that open the hundred is here a figure for the Dharma, so that the seasonal and Buddhist poems answer each other.

First line, “yamazakura”: a word also sung in 1456 through 1458 among the blossom poems.
Second line, “tsubomi hajimuru”: beginning to bud.
Third line, “hana no e ni”: on the cherry branches.
Fourth line, “haru o ba komete”: holding all of spring within, the buds enclosing all the flowers to come.
Fifth line, “kasumu narikeri”: nari keri marks realization, "they lie veiled in haze."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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