Kokinshu #393

[lnhammer]

Written while parting with people who climbed the mountain to worship and were returning.

    Our separation --
I shall entrust it to
    the mountain cherries:
whether you stay or not is
at the whim of the flowers.

—16-20 May 2013

Original by Yûsen. Yûsen (836–900) was a Fujiwara, lay personal name unknown, who took vows as a Buddhist priest. He has 2 poems in the Kokinshu. ¶ It's generally understood that the mountain is Hiei (see #87) and that Yûsen resided in a temple there. Omitted-but-understood verb: "is." It's unclear whether he's hoping the flowers will scatter and confuse the path (as in the next poem) or the visitors will be entranced enough to stay (as in the poem after). Not a great translation -- and while it's not a great poem either, that's no excuse.


wakare o-ba
yama no sakura ni
makasetemu
tomemu tomeji wa
hana no manimani

---L.

Comments

[thistleingrey]

*scratches head* Parting with or parting from?
Interesting pivot re: semantic links to the next two poems, sounds like.

[lnhammer]

Parting with/from -- this may be a region usage thing? To me, "parting from" implies movement on the part of the subject, but "parting with" is neutral as to who is departing. I can't think of a preposition that clearly implies that the other party is the departer.

---L.

[thistleingrey]

Makes sense--thanks for clarifying. (And right, one merely makes the other party the subject + from, I think.)