KKS 51

Translation

[Topic unknown]

[Poet unknown]

yamazakura                      The mountain cherries
waga mi ni kure-ba              I have come here to see
harukasumi                      And the spring haze
mine ni mo o ni mo              On both the foot and the peak
tachi-kakushi-tsutsu            Keeps rising to hide them.

Mountain cherries

These are simply cherry trees in the mountains, not a particular type of tree.

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Original text

山桜ざくらわが見身に来くれば春霞ゝるかすみ峯にも尾を(お)にも立たち隠かくしつゝ

• In the base text this poem is inserted in the upper margin above the preface for the next poem. No other text lacks this poem, so this was likely a copying mistake based on both 50 and 51 starting with 山.
• It is difficult to tell whether the use of 身 in the base text instead of 見 indicates a difference in interpretation by the copyist. I have not seen a commentary (ancient or modern) that interprets this as 我が身に来れば so I am inclined to think that the 身 is simply a 変体仮名 form.
• Takeoka notes that 山桜 is written without voicing in the 万葉集, but he thinks there is insufficient evidence to change the traditional voiced やまざすら reading.