Ko no moto ni yadori wa subeshi sakurabana chiramaku oshimi tabi nara naku ni

木のもとに宿りはすべし桜花
散らまく惜しみ旅ならなくに

Roma-ji: Ko no moto ni yadori wa subeshi sakurabana chiramaku oshimi tabi nara naku ni
English Translation: Beneath the trees here
I ought to make my shelter,
for the cherry blossoms,
grieving that they soon will fall—
though it isn't that I travel.
Meaning: I should take shelter beneath the trees, not because I am traveling, but because I cannot bear to see the cherry blossoms fall.
Commentary: Spring Poems 60

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On a folding-screen painting of many travelers lying beneath the blossoms"
The poet says he takes shelter beneath the trees not because he is on a journey but because he grieves to see the cherries fall. It is a witty poem that reinterprets the traveler's lodging as the love of blossoms. Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle.

Line 1, "Beneath the trees," takes up "beneath the trees where they fall" from the preceding poem, 59.
Line 2: beshi expresses what is fitting or intended, and the poem pauses here; it is the same decisive phrasing as "I ought to make my dwelling" in 3.
Line 3 names the blossoms that are the reason for the shelter.
Line 4, "grieving that they soon will fall," is the same line as in 45.
Line 5: nakuni, the ku-nominalization of the negative with ni, expresses a concessive sigh: "though it isn't a journey."
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Ima shi wa to omoishi hodo ni sakurabana chiru ko no moto ni hikazu henubeshi
Next Poem: Ko no moto ni yadori o sureba katashiki no waga koromode ni hana wa chiritsutsu