may my lord endure
for a thousand, eight thousand years—
until pebbles small
grow into mighty boulders
and moss comes thick upon them

Meaning

May you live for a thousand, for eight thousand years—until small pebbles grow into great rocks and moss comes to cover them.

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitations

This is a famous poem that later became the basis of the national anthem “Kimigayo.”

“My lord” broadly refers to you, a master, or a sovereign. “Pebbles” are small stones, which “become great rocks,” and “until moss grows upon them” expresses the passage of a very long time. The poem celebrates the long life of a cherished person.

In later collections such as the Kokinshū, it evolved into the form beginning “Kimigayo.” While “kimi” could refer to a beloved or a respected person, from the Meiji period onward it came to signify the Emperor.

Author

Unknown Poet

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

saying “yesterday” and living through this day as well— like Asuka River ever flowing swift and on so pass the days and passing months
how I regret it the year that now is passing on— in this polished mirror even the reflected self seems to fade into the dusk
counting one by one the grains of sand upon the shore of the wide sea’s edge— let them be the numbered years of your long enduring life
on Shio-no-yama at the jutting shore of the strand where plovers abide— they seem to cry “eight thousand years” for the span of your noble reign

may my lord endure for a thousand, eight thousand years— until pebbles small grow into mighty boulders and moss comes thick upon them

may my lord endure
for a thousand, eight thousand years—
until pebbles small
grow into mighty boulders
and moss comes thick upon them