夏山の青葉まじりの遅桜
初花よりもめづらしきかな
初花よりもめづらしきかな
- Roma-ji
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Natsuyama no aoba majiri no osozakura hatsuhana yori mo mezurashiki kana
- English Translation
-
Mingled in among
the green leaves of summer hills,
the late cherry bloom
is more rare and wonderful
than the first flowers of spring
- Meaning
- The late cherry blossoms scattered among the green leaves of the summer hills are, if anything, more precious and delightful than the first flowers of spring.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 95
Finding cherry blossoms still lingering on hills already thick with green, the poet feels they are more delightful than the first blossoms of spring. It is a heart that discovers unexpected beauty, finding the flowers all the fresher for being out of season.
Taking up the grief for spring in poem 94, it moves on to the joy of finding a last trace of spring on the summer hills.
First line, 'natsuyama no', is the summer hill thick with green leaves, showing that the season is already summer.
Second line, 'aoba majiri no', means mingled among the green leaves. The next poem, 96, also sings of green leaves; the season advances from this poem, where blossoms still mingle, to the next, where every treetop has turned green.
Third line, 'osozakura', is a cherry that blooms later than others. The poem pauses on this noun and gives the poet's response in the lower half.
Fourth line, 'hatsuhana yori mo', takes hatsuhana, the first flowers of the year, and contrasts the first blossoms of spring with the late cherry of summer.
Final line, 'mezurashiki kana', uses mezurashi, fresh and delightful, closed with the exclamatory kana. Poem 113 in this book also uses mezurashi for the freshness of the cuckoo's song.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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