Ko no moto ni yadori o sureba katashiki no waga koromode ni hana wa chiritsutsu

木のもとに宿りをすれば片敷きの
わが衣手に花は散りつつ

Roma-ji: Ko no moto ni yadori o sureba katashiki no waga koromode ni hana wa chiritsutsu
English Translation: Beneath the trees here,
when I make my shelter for the night,
on the single sleeve
that I spread to sleep alone
the blossoms keep on falling.
Meaning: When I take shelter beneath the trees, the blossoms keep falling on the single sleeve I spread to sleep alone.
Commentary: Spring Poems 61

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On a folding-screen painting of many travelers lying beneath the blossoms"
Sleeping on a journey beneath the trees, the poet finds cherry blossoms falling ceaselessly on the one sleeve he has spread to sleep alone. The loneliness of sleeping solitary on the road overlaps with the beauty of falling flowers. Kamo no Mabuchi gave it a double circle, valuing it highly.

Line 1 opens like the preceding poem, 60.
Line 2 means "when I make my shelter," carrying out the resolve of "I ought to make my shelter" in the preceding poem.
Line 3: katashiki means spreading only one sleeve of one's robe to sleep alone, conveying the solitude of travel.
Line 4 names the sleeve on which the blossoms fall; the next poem, 62, uses the same line.
Line 5 ends with tsutsu, leaving the continual falling as a lingering image.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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