Day 4: family time comes to an end.

Going back to Summer Camp in the third grade, I've always felt a tinge of sadness whenever some event comes to an end.

After dropping off my father, I stopped off at Ikea (which is near the airport) and shopped long enough until his plane had departed.  I picked up some miscellaneous stuff and grabbed a mint-vanilla frozen yogurt cone.  Took a photo of the cherry blossoms while standing in the sun, enjoying my cone.

Felt better.

Ikea mint-vanilla frozen yogurt cone.  Mmm.

Cherry blossoms at Ikea

"Sadder than blossoms swept off by the wind
A life torn away in the fullness of Spring."
(Translated quote from the movie, Chushingura, of Naganori Asano's death poem "風さそふ花よりもなほ我はまた春の名残をいかにとやせん" = "Kaze sasou, hana yori mo naho, ware wa mata, haru nagori wo, ika ni toyasen." (or something like that.))  This is the translation that I had grown up with, watching the subtitled version of Chushingura.  The tone I was always hearing, was one of regret.  But if you try to track it with the Japanese kanji, it does not follow.

The common (i.e. the internet, where everyone copies verbatim from Wikipedia) interpretation seems to be:
"More than the cherry blossoms,
Inviting a wind to blow them away,
I am wondering what to do,
With the remaining springtime."

That interpretation does not sit well with me, because it lacks any sense of regret, but instead offers a scolding of rushing to end one's life (blossoms, with nothing else better to do, invites the wind to blow them away?).  Anyone who has watched the scene of Asano committing seppuku (and the events that would follow) could not come to the conclusion that he is writing down a warning for others.

So, I found a different interpretation that comes much closer to what I think is the meaning of his poem:
"I wish I could enjoy,
The rest of Spring,
As the cherry blossoms are yet in bloom,
In spite of the spring breeze,
Which is attempting to blow off all their petals."

But it is out of order from the literal writing and adds a lot of extraneous words that aren't actually there.

Therefore, and with much time spent, I leave you my strained research and interpretation of how Asano meant to express his thoughts:
"The wind invites,
Cherry blossoms rather not fall,
My regret too,
The end of Spring comes,
No matter what."

I can imagine Asano, looking at the cherry blossoms falling, realized that he shared a similar fate, that no matter what he wished, he cannot change its inevitability.

What do you think: Is my interpretation of Asano's poem wrong?