by the mighty gods
was this staff perhaps cut forth—
as I take it up now
even the slope of a thousand years
seems one I may yet cross

Meaning

Was this staff perhaps cut by the mighty gods? As I take it up, it feels as though I may even cross the slope of a thousand years.

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitations

A poem composed on behalf of his grandmother when Emperor Kōkō, then still a prince, saw a silver staff prepared for her eightieth celebration.

In ancient custom, as recorded in the Rites, a staff was presented at the age of eighty. The poem praises the staff as something wondrous, as if fashioned by the gods, and expresses the feeling that with it one may go on to live even longer, beyond the span of a thousand years.

Author

Sojo Henjo

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

let my span of years be added to your eight thousand— if it may be so then keep what thus remains as a memory of me
thus as I am now in one way or another I live lingering on still— if only there were a way to meet your eight thousand years
cherry blossoms scatter, whirl, and cloud the way— so that the path by which old age is said to come may lose itself and stray
from Kame-no-o along the rooted mountain rocks falling, the cascade— its white jeweled drops, could they be the count of your thousand years

by the mighty gods was this staff perhaps cut forth— as I take it up now even the slope of a thousand years seems one I may yet cross

by the mighty gods
was this staff perhaps cut forth—
as I take it up now
even the slope of a thousand years
seems one I may yet cross