み吉野の山下陰の桜花
咲きて立てりと風に知らすな
咲きて立てりと風に知らすな
- Roma-ji
-
Miyoshino no yamashitakage no sakurabana sakite tateri to kaze ni shirasu na
- English Translation
-
In fair Yoshino,
in the shade beneath the hills,
O cherry blossoms,
that you've opened and stand there
do not let the wind find out.
- Meaning
- Cherry blossoms in the shade at the foot of the hills of Yoshino, do not let the wind know that you have bloomed and stand there.
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 47
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on blossoms"
The poet calls to the cherry blossoms blooming quietly in the shade at the foot of Yoshino's hills, telling them not to let the wind know they have bloomed. His fear that the wind would scatter them once it found out is expressed as a plea to the flowers, conveying his wish to protect them.
In the Ruijū text the headnote reads "Composed on blossoms," and the Ruijū and Teika texts differ in the fourth line. One character in the fourth line of the base text is hard to read, so the common reading sakite tateri to has been adopted.
Line 1: mi is honorific, naming Yoshino, famed for cherries; poems on Yoshino's cherries follow.
Line 2, "in the shade beneath the hills," names a place hidden from view.
Line 3 addresses the cherry blossoms.
Line 4: ri marks a continuing state—having bloomed and standing there.
Line 5: na is a prohibitive particle. Treating wind as the enemy that scatters flowers anticipates the topics "blossoms dread the wind" and "blossoms resent the wind" of 69 and 70.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
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Sakurabana chiraba oshikemu tamaboko no michiyukiburi ni orite kazasamu
- Next Poem
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Miyoshino no yama no yamamori hana o mite naganagashi hi o akazu mo aru kana