滝の上の三船の山の山桜
風に浮きてぞ花も散りける
風に浮きてぞ花も散りける
- Roma-ji
-
Taki no ue no mifune no yama no yamazakura kaze ni ukite zo hana mo chirikeru
- English Translation
-
Above the waterfall,
on the mountain of Mifune,
the mountain cherries—
floating on the wind, it seems,
their blossoms are scattering too.
- Meaning
- On Mount Mifune above the waterfall, the mountain cherry blossoms scatter, floating on the wind.
- Commentary
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Spring Poems 75
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On a folding screen showing cherry trees in bloom in the mountains"
The poet depicts the mountain cherries on Mount Mifune above the falls at Yoshino scattering as if floating on the wind. From the name Mifune ("three boats") he draws "floating," so the blossoms float on the wind as boats float on water. Kamo no Mabuchi said building a poem by working on a place name is still immature and the fourth line is a later style.
The first two lines take up the opening of Prince Yuge's Man'yōshū poem about clouds resting on Mount Mifune above the falls, which he does not expect to last forever.
Line 1 names the area above the Miyataki falls at Yoshino, using the Man'yō source's words.
Line 2: Mount Mifune lies near Miyataki in Yoshino; "boat" is an associated word with "floating" in line 4.
Line 3 names the mountain cherries painted on the screen.
Line 4: zo emphasizes the scattering as if floating on the wind; Mabuchi called this a later style.
Line 5 concludes zo with the attributive keru.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Yamazakura chiraba chiranamu oshige nami yoshi ya hito mizu hana no natate ni
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Yamakaze no sakura fukimaku oto su nari yoshino no taki no iwa mo todoro ni