もろともにあはれと思へ山桜
花よりほかに知る人もなし
花よりほかに知る人もなし
- Roma-ji
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Morotomo ni aware to omoe yamazakura hana yori hoka ni shiru hito mo nashi
- English Translation
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Together with me
let us feel for each other,
mountain cherry tree,
for apart from your blossoms
there is none who knows my heart
- Meaning
- Feel for me, mountain cherry, as I feel for you, for here, apart from your blossoms, there is no one who knows my heart.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 521
The poet calls to a mountain cherry as if it were a person: feel for me as I feel for you, for deep in these mountains no one but your blossoms knows my heart. In the flowers met amid harsh ascetic practice, he seeks a companion for his lonely heart.
Some manuscripts have a headnote saying that it was composed on unexpectedly seeing cherry blossoms in bloom at Ōmine. It is said to have been composed by the poet, known as a mountain ascetic, on finding a mountain cherry in the midst of his practice in the Ōmine range. It is a celebrated poem also included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The author, Gyōson, was a son of the Consultant Minamoto no Motohira. A monk of Onjōji who rose to Archbishop, he was also renowned as a mountain ascetic.
First line, 'morotomo ni', means together, that is, the poet and the cherry alike.
Second line, 'aware to omoe', means feel for me, omoe being imperative. The poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, 'yamazakura', means mountain cherry, used as an address.
Fourth line, 'hana yori hoka ni', means apart from you, the blossoms.
Final line, 'shiru hito mo nashi', means there is no one who knows my heart, closing with a plain statement of solitude in the mountains.
- Author
- Gyōson
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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