Ima ikuka haru shi nakereba harusame ni nuru tomo oramu yamabuki no hana

今幾日春しなければ春雨に
濡るとも折らむ山吹の花

Roma-ji: Ima ikuka haru shi nakereba harusame ni nuru tomo oramu yamabuki no hana
English Translation: How many days more?
Since so little spring remains,
in the gentle rain
though I may be soaked, I'll pluck
the kerria's yellow flowers.
Meaning: Only a few days of spring remain—so even if the spring rain soaks me, I'll break off a spray of yellow kerria.
Commentary: Spring Poems 119

Headnote: "Composed on breaking off yellow kerria"
Since only a little spring remains, the poet resolves to break off kerria blossoms even if the spring rain soaks him. His earnest wish to cherish the departing spring and keep some trace of it at hand comes through.
The poem draws on Ariwara no Narihira's Kokinshū poem about breaking off a spray in the rain, thinking that few days of spring remain in the year. The Ruijū and Teika texts differ in the third line. Some characters in the first and third lines of the base text are hard to read, so the readings ima ikuka and harusame ni of the Waka Database text have been adopted.

Line 1 means "how many days more," stressing how little spring remains.
Line 2: shi is emphatic, "since so little spring is left."
Line 3 names the rain that hinders gathering flowers.
Line 4: tomo is a concessive hypothetical and mu expresses intention—"even if I am wet, I will pick them"; the poem pauses here.
Line 5 ends on a noun, naming in inversion the flower to be picked. Like "I'll break a branch to wear them" in 46, it cherishes spring by breaking off flowers.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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