咲きしよりかねてぞ惜しき梅の花
散りの別れはわが身と思へば
散りの別れはわが身と思へば
- Roma-ji
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Sakishi yori kanete zo oshiki ume no hana chiri no wakare wa waga mi to omoeba
- English Translation
-
Ever since they bloomed
I have grieved for them in advance,
these plum blossoms here;
for the parting when they scatter
I feel as my very own.
- Meaning
- From the moment they bloomed I have already regretted them, these plum blossoms, for I feel the parting of their scattering as my own.
- Commentary
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Spring Poems 26
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on plum blossoms"
The poet says that from the moment the plum blossoms opened, he already grieves over their scattering. Feeling the pain of parting with the falling flowers as his own, he cannot help thinking of farewell even at their peak—an anticipatory lament for spring. Kamo no Mabuchi called the phrase chiri no wakare ("the parting of scattering") a later mannerism.
The Ruijū text includes it in the section of poems found in another manuscript and the printed edition.
Line 1, "Ever since they bloomed," takes the start of the flowering as the starting point.
Line 2: kanete means in advance; zo with the attributive oshiki forms a kakarimusubi.
Line 3, "these plum blossoms," is a form of address, and the poem pauses here.
Line 4, "the parting when they scatter," is the phrase Mabuchi judged a later style.
Line 5, "I feel as my very own," gives the reason, in inversion with the upper verse. After the joy of full bloom in the preceding poem, 25, the poet already thinks of the time of falling.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Waga yado no yae no kōbai sakinikeri shiru mo shiranu mo nabete towanamu
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Waga sode ni ka o dani nokose ume no hana akade chirinuru wasuregatami ni