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Kokinshu #81
Wednesday, 4 May 2011 07:12 Written on seeing cherry blossoms fall and float away in the stream at the Crown Prince's quarters.
Because they're flowers
that frivolously scattered
from the branches,
once they fall, they're nothing more
than froth upon the water.
eda yori mo
ada ni chirinishi
hana nareba
ochite mo mizu no
awa to koso nare
---L.
Because they're flowers
that frivolously scattered
from the branches,
once they fall, they're nothing more
than froth upon the water.
—7 March 2011
Original by Sugano no Takayo, whose dates are unknown aside from that he flourished around 810 and last appears in records in 820; he has this single poem in the Kokinshu. The conceit implies the transient flowers were but as froth to begin with. I have to wonder if there wasn't a way to express this without the clunk of two synonyms for falling (chiru and ochiru, with connotations of scattering and dropping, respectively).eda yori mo
ada ni chirinishi
hana nareba
ochite mo mizu no
awa to koso nare
---L.