Minahito wa Yoshino no yama no sakurabana ori shiranu mi ya tani no umoregi - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

皆人は吉野の山の桜花
をり知らぬ身や谷の埋もれ木

Roma-ji: Minahito wa Yoshino no yama no sakurabana ori shiranu mi ya tani no umoregi
English Translation: All the other folk
are cherry blossoms in bloom
on Yoshino's hills,
and I who know not the time,
a buried log in the vale
Meaning: Everyone else is like the cherry blossoms of Mount Yoshino; am I, who know nothing of my season, only a buried log at the bottom of the valley?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 523

Everyone, the poet says, flourishes like the cherry blossoms of Mount Yoshino, while he, who knows nothing of his season, is perhaps only a log buried in the valley. Setting the brilliant cherries of Yoshino against a buried log in the sunless valley, he laments being left behind amid those who prosper in their time.
Umoregi, a buried log, also appears two poems later in 525 as the buried log unknown to spring, and in both it stands for one left behind in the season of blossoms.

First line, 'minahito wa', means everyone.
Second line, 'Yoshino no yama no', means of the hills of Yoshino in Yamato, famed for its cherries.
Third line, 'sakurabana', means cherry blossoms in full bloom, standing for those who prosper in their time. The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, 'ori shiranu mi ya', is a pivot in which ori means both the right season and the breaking off of a branch, left in kana. It describes one who knows no season of bloom and whose branches no one breaks off. The particle ya expresses a question.
Final line, 'tani no umoregi', means a log buried in the valley, a figure for one unknown and neglected by the world. Closing on a noun, it contrasts with sakurabana in the third line. Umoregi also appears two poems later in 525.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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