道遠み今日越え暮れぬ山桜
花の宿りを我に貸さなむ
花の宿りを我に貸さなむ
- Roma-ji
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Michi tōmi kyō koekurenu yamazakura hana no yadori o ware ni kasanamu
- English Translation
-
The road is so long
that dusk fell before I crossed today;
mountain cherry tree,
the shelter of your blossoms,
lend it to me, I pray.
- Meaning
- The road was so long that night fell before I could cross the mountain today—mountain cherry, lend me the shelter of your blossoms.
- Commentary
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Spring Poems 55
Headnote: "Blossoms on a mountain path at evening"
A traveler whose road is long and who has been overtaken by dusk before crossing the mountain asks the mountain cherry to lend him the shade of its blossoms as a night's lodging. The poem overlays the feelings of travel with longing for the blossoms on an evening mountain path. Kamo no Mabuchi said the fourth line is in a later manner.
Line 1 uses adjective stem + mi to give a reason: "since the road is long."
Line 2 means night fell while crossing, and the poem pauses here.
Line 3 addresses the mountain cherry.
Line 4, "the shelter of your blossoms," corresponds to "the shelter of the dew" in the preceding poem, 54.
Line 5 is the same closing as the preceding poem, ending with namu, a wish addressed to another.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Kyō mo mata hana ni kurashitsu harusame no tsuyu no yadori o ware ni kasanamu
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Toki no ma to omoite koshi o yamazato ni hana miru miru to nagai shinubeshi