Other than the woodcutter there’s nobody here; late-blooming cherries

木樵より他に人なし遅桜

kikori yori hoka ni hito nashi osozakura

(Ichihara Tayo 市原多代)

*

1.

Osozakura are cherry trees that, for whatever reason, blossom later than the usual time. This also means that by then the flower-watching crowds are no longer around.

2.

Ichihara Tayo (1776–1865), also known as Tayojo (多代女), was a female poet who lived in the late Edo period. Widowed in 1806 at the age of 30, she became a haiku poet while raising three children.