[66] もろ (Moro)

 Poem Meaning and Background

Picture of Oyama Sakura

もろともに・あはれとおもへ・やまざくら

morotomo ni・aware to omoe・yama-zakura

はなよりほかに・しるひともなし

hana yori hokani・shiru hito mo nashi

~前大僧正行尊　（Saki no Daisoujou Gyouson)

Translation

On a mountain slope, 
Solitary, uncompanioned, 
Stands a cherry tree. 
Except for you, lonely friend, 
To others I am unknown. 

Meaning

    The author of this poem was a monk who left home at a young age and traveled to various places to undergo difficult physical and spiritual training. It is said that he composed this poem on Mt. Ōmine (also known as Mt. Sanjō), a mountain in Nara which is a well known pilgrimage and training ground. All alone on a rugged and precipitous mountain path, the author happens upon a lone cherry tree.  We can see that he feels a sense of kinship towards the tree, perhaps because he is taking a solitary journey when he comes across this tree, which also stands alone. Another interpretation of this poem reads:     

I think of you as someone very close to me, and I hope you feel the same nostalgic way for me. Oh, mountain cherry blossoms, there is no one else in this world who knows me as you do. 

もろともに in this context has a similar meaning to いっしょに (together) or おたがいに (mutually/both). あはれとおもへ means something along the lines of "please think of me with a sense of nostalgia". Here, the author is personifying the tree, and asking it to think of him with the same fondness he himself feels towards the tree. In the second verse, he is saying that there is no one who understands his feelings, apart from this tree. 

Author

Saki no Daisōjō Gyōson (1055-1135), also known as the Abbot of Byōdō-in,  was the great grandson of Emperor Sanjō, author of [68] Kokoroni. He left home at age 12, entered Mii-dera, and eventually became its Abbot. He later rose to become the cheif prelate of Enryaku-ji temple. During his life, he served Emperor Shirakawa, Emperor Toba, and Emperor Sutoku (who authored poem [77] Se).