散る花にせきとめらるる山川の
ふかくも春のなりにけるかな
ふかくも春のなりにけるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Chiru hana ni sekitomeraruru yamakawa no fukaku mo haru no narinikeru kana
- English Translation
-
By falling blossoms
dammed up and held back,
the mountain stream
has grown deep, and spring as well
has deepened to its fullness.
- Meaning
- Like the mountain stream dammed by falling blossoms and grown deep, spring too has deepened to its fullness.
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems 44
The poet overlays the deepening of spring on a mountain stream whose water rises as fallen petals dam it. The movement of the heart from the visible depth of the stream to the deepening of the season is skillfully built.
The first line, "by falling blossoms," names the agent of the passive: by the fallen petals.
The second line, "dammed up," uses "raruru," the attributive of the passive "raru."
The third line, "the mountain stream," is a stream in the hills; the lines up to here form a preface leading to the fourth line.
The fourth line, "fukaku mo," is a pivot word meaning both the stream growing deep and spring deepening. Like the "pool" of 39, it takes up the idea of falling flowers deepening the water.
The last line, "has deepened," voices feeling for spring's fullness with the exclamatory "keru kana"; it is the same last line as that of 37.
- Author
- Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Niwa mo se ni tsumoreru yuki to mienagara kaoru zo hana no shirushi narikeru
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Hitoe dani akanu nioi o itodoshiku yae kasanareru yamabuki no hana