衣手に昼は散りつむ桜花
夜は心にかかるなりけり
夜は心にかかるなりけり
- Roma-ji
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Koromode ni hiru wa chiritsumu sakurabana yoru wa kokoro ni kakaru nari keri
- English Translation
-
On my sleeves by day
they fall and heap in drifts,
cherry blossoms, yet
in the night upon my heart
it is they that weigh and cling
- Meaning
- By day the cherry blossoms fall and pile up on my sleeves; by night they cling to my heart and trouble it.
- Commentary
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Book One Spring Poems 67
By day cherry petals fall and gather on the poet's sleeves, and by night, unseen, they weigh on his mind. Contrasting day and night, sleeve and heart, the poem expresses the unceasing thought of the blossoms.
The author, Ryūgen, was a son of Fujiwara no Michimune and a monk known as the Wakasa Ajari. He was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hyakushu.
First line, 'koromode ni', uses koromode, sleeves.
Second line, 'hiru wa chiritsumu', means by day they fall and pile, paired with 'in the night' in the fourth line.
Third line, 'sakurabana', is the theme that joins the upper and lower halves.
Fourth line, 'yoru wa kokoro ni', means at night in my heart, set against the sleeves of daytime.
Final line, 'kakaru nari keri', takes up the flowers falling onto the sleeves and turns it to their weighing on the heart, causing worry.
- Author
- Ryūgen
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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