Kokinshu #111

Topic unknown.

    Our steeds are lined up,
so come now, let's go and see --
    in the old village,
flowers must be scattering
like nothing so much as snow.

—4 July 2011

Original author unknown. Here's a case where the generic flowers are pretty clearly sakura again. (And I have to admit, I find the image of horsemen in period costumes cantering through a whirl of cherry petals kinda romantic, in a cinematic sort of way. Preferably not in cheesy slo-mo, though.) Given cherries, there's a good chance the "old village" is pointing at the former Nara capital, but not good enough for me to bet on it -- and as you may have noticed, I tend to err on the side of literalism. Yet even as I say that, there's my "steed" for koma, which is now an old-fashioned synonym for uma ("horse") but at the time seems to have been in the standard rather than elevated register. This may not be best translation practice, but I like the effect anyway.


koma namete
iza mi ni yukamu
furusato wa
yuki to nomi koso
hana wa chirurame

---L.