時の間と思ひて来しを山里に
花見る見ると長居しぬべし
花見る見ると長居しぬべし
- Roma-ji
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Toki no ma to omoite koshi o yamazato ni hana miru miru to nagai shinubeshi
- English Translation
-
Just a little while,
so I thought, and then I came;
in the mountain village,
watching blossoms, watching still,
I will surely stay too long.
- Meaning
- I came thinking it would be only for a moment, but here in the mountain village, watching and watching the blossoms, I'm sure to stay far too long.
- Commentary
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Spring Poems 56
Headnote: "On a folding-screen painting of blossom viewing at a mountain dwelling"
Responding to a screen painting of blossom viewing at a mountain dwelling, the poet says he came meaning to stay only a moment, but as he keeps watching the flowers he is sure to linger. Entering the heart of the figure in the painting, he expresses how the blossoms' charm holds one back. Kamo no Mabuchi said it is somewhat good among the middle-period poems.
In the Ruijū text the headnote reads "A place where blossoms are viewed at a mountain dwelling." Some characters in the first line of the base text are hard to read, so the common reading toki no ma to has been adopted.
Line 1 means "thinking it only a moment."
Line 2: o is concessive, "though I came thinking so."
Line 3 names the mountain dwelling of the painting.
Line 4 repeats "watching" to show continued gazing.
Line 5: nubeshi means "will surely end up." It recalls the mountain keeper of 48 who never tires of the blossoms, voicing the reluctance to leave them.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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