A poem composed at a poetry competition held by Her Majesty the Empress during the Kanpyō period [889-898].
はなの木も今はほりうゑじ春たてばうつろふ色に人ならひけり
| Fana no ko mo ima Fa Foriuweji Faru tateba uturoFu iro ni Fito naraFikeri |
Trees full of blossom: Too late now to transplant them And with spring’s passing So their colours fade A lesson learned by men. |
The Monk Sosei
素性法師
Grammatically, does 今はほりうゑじ indicate the writer’s intention, i.e. “from now on I will not dig and replant [them]” ? My guess is that ほりうゑじ is a compound verb of 掘る (to dig) and 植える (to plant; to grow; to transplant), and that じ is the negative auxiliary verb expressing a negative intention, “I will not” (Shirane 10.1.1.2, p.124).
Yes, this is correct.