Sakurabana sakeru yamaji ya tōkaramu sugigate ni nomi haru no kurenuru

桜花咲ける山路や遠からむ
過ぎがてにのみ春の暮れぬる

Roma-ji: Sakurabana sakeru yamaji ya tōkaramu sugigate ni nomi haru no kurenuru
English Translation: Cherry blossoms bloom
on mountain paths—are they so far?
Only lingering,
unable to pass them by,
I have watched the spring grow late.
Meaning: Are the mountain paths where the cherries bloom so far away? Unable to pass by the blossoms, I have only lingered while spring has drawn to its close.
Commentary: Spring Poems 96

Headnote: "Composed on cherry blossoms"
The poet asks whether the mountain paths where the cherries bloom are so far away, then says that, stopping at every flower on the way and unable to pass them by, he has let spring draw to its close. Looking back on a spring spent captivated by blossoms, this poem closes the long group of cherry poems. Kamo no Mabuchi said the lower verse is still immature.
The Ruijū text places it in the section of poems from another manuscript and the printed edition.

Line 1, "Cherry blossoms," closes the cherry group begun in 45 with the same word that opened it.
Line 2: ya is an interrogative particle.
Line 3 concludes ya with the attributive of mu, and the poem pauses here.
Line 4 means "only unable to pass by," showing the poet held back by blossoms.
Line 5 ends on the attributive of nu, leaving a sigh at spring's end. The cherry group ends here, and from the next poem, 97, the section turns to the moon of spring nights.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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