春深みあらしの山の桜花
咲くと見しまに散りにけるかな
咲くと見しまに散りにけるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Haru fukami arashi no yama no sakurabana saku to mishi ma ni chirinikeru kana
- English Translation
-
Now that spring grows deep,
on the mountain named for storms
the cherry blossoms,
even as I watched them bloom,
have scattered all away.
- Meaning
- With spring grown deep, the cherry blossoms on Arashiyama, the mountain of storms, scattered almost as soon as I saw them bloom.
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 91
Headnote: "Composed on falling blossoms"
The poet laments that as spring deepened, the cherries of Arashiyama scattered almost as soon as he saw them bloom. Overlaying the "storm" (arashi) in the mountain's name with the fierce wind that scatters the flowers, he sings of the fleetingness of falling blossoms. Kamo no Mabuchi said the skillful use of "storm" is a later style.
Line 1 uses noun + adjective stem + mi to give a reason: "since spring has deepened."
Line 2: arashi is a pivot word joining Arashiyama in Yamashiro with arashi, a fierce wind from the mountains.
Line 3 names the blossoms that fall, the subject of the topic.
Line 4 is the same line as in 72, meaning "in the moment I saw them bloom."
Line 5 adds the exclamatory kana to the perfective nu and keri, expressing amazement at how quickly they fell.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Sazanami ya shiga no miyako no hanazakari kaze yori saki ni towamashi mono o
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Haru kureba itoka no yama no itozakura kaze ni midarete hana zo chirikeru