朝まだき霞なこめそ山桜
尋ね行く間のよそ目にも見む
尋ね行く間のよそ目にも見む
- Roma-ji
-
Asamadaki kasumi na kome so yamazakura tazuneyuku ma no yosome ni mo mimu
- English Translation
-
In the early dawn
do not close it in, O mist,
the mountain cherry;
even on the way to seek it
from afar I would behold it.
- Meaning
- Mist, do not shroud the mountain cherries in the early dawn; even on my way to seek them, I want to see them from afar.
- Commentary
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Book One Spring Poems 21
Wanting to gaze at the blossoms from a distance even on the way to visit them, the poet asks the mist not to rise from early morning. Impatience for the flowers takes the form of an appeal to the mist.
From the next poem's headnote, "composed at the same poetry contest," this poem is thought to come from a contest at the house of Fujiwara no Morozane, the Kyōgoku former Chancellor.
The first line, "in the early dawn," means the early morning before full daylight.
The second line, "do not close it in, O mist," is a prohibition framed by "na" and "so," and the poem breaks here. It is the same kind of appeal as "do not blow them into tangles" in 14.
The third line, "the mountain cherry," names the flowers the poet fears the mist will hide.
The fourth line, "on the way to seek it," means while going to visit the blossoms.
The last line, "from afar I would behold it," uses "mu" for intention: I will see it even from a distance.
- Author
- The Lady Kii of Princess Yushi's Household
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Shirakumo to miyuru ni shirushi Miyoshino no Yoshino no yama no hanazakari kamo