春来ればまづ咲く宿の梅の花
香をなつかしみ鶯ぞ鳴く
香をなつかしみ鶯ぞ鳴く
- Roma-ji
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Haru kureba mazu saku yado no ume no hana ka o natsukashimi uguisu zo naku
- English Translation
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When springtime arrives,
first to bloom beside my house—
the plum's fair blossoms;
drawn by the sweetness of their scent,
the warbler sings among them.
- Meaning
- When spring comes, the plum by my house is the first to bloom, and the warbler, drawn to its fragrance, sings there.
- Commentary
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Spring Poems 15
Headnote: "A warbler among the blossoms"
The poet pairs the plum blossoms that are the first to open by his house when spring arrives with the warbler that sings, drawn by their scent. He renders simply the classic spring combination of plum and warbler, picturing a tranquil early-spring scene. Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle.
In the Ruijū text the headnote reads "On the theme of a warbler among the blossoms." One character in the fourth line of the base text is hard to read, so the common reading ka o natsukashimi has been adopted.
Line 1, "When springtime arrives," is a habitual condition: whenever spring comes.
Line 2, "first to bloom," presents the plum as the forerunner of spring flowers.
Line 3, "the plum's blossoms," introduces the series of plum poems that follows.
Line 4 uses the pattern noun + o + adjective stem + mi to give a reason: because the scent is so dear.
Line 5: zo with the attributive form creates a kakarimusubi, the same closing as 4. The next poem, 16, has the same closing as well, so poems of plum and warbler follow one another.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Kusa fukaki kasumi no tani ni hagukumaru uguisu nomi ya mukashi kouramu
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Harusame no tsuyu mo mada hizu umegae ni uwage shiorete uguisu zo naku