Kono nenuru asake no kaze ni kaoru nari nokiba no ume no haru no hatsuhana

この寝ぬる朝明の風に香るなり
軒端の梅の春の初花

Roma-ji: Kono nenuru asake no kaze ni kaoru nari nokiba no ume no haru no hatsuhana
English Translation: In the morning wind
after the night I have slept,
there's a fragrance here—
from the plum beside the eaves,
the first blossoms of the spring.
Meaning: On the dawn breeze after a night's sleep comes a fragrance—the first blossoms of spring on the plum by the eaves.
Commentary: Spring Poems 35

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On an occasion when I had several people compose on the theme of plum blossoms fragrant in the wind"
The poet sings of the first plum blossoms by the eaves sending their scent on the breeze at dawn after a night's sleep. Knowing from scent alone that the first flowers have opened, before seeing them, he captures the clear sensibility of an early-spring morning. Kamo no Mabuchi gave it a double circle, noting that the first two lines are Man'yō diction and that the lofty quality lies in the easy flow of the lower verse.
This poem was included in the Shinchokusen Wakashū. The Ruijū text places it, as a "spring poem," in the section of poems from another manuscript and the printed edition.

Line 1, kono nenuru ("this night I have slept"), is a phrase found in the Man'yōshū.
Line 2: asake means dawn, also a Man'yō word.
Line 3: nari infers from atmosphere; the scent tells of the first blossoms, and the poem pauses here.
Line 4, "the plum beside the eaves," uses the same words as 32.
Line 5 ends on a noun, revealing in inversion the source of the scent. It shares "of the spring, first" with "the first breeze of the spring" ending the preceding poem, 34, so wind and flower form a pair.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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