亀の尾の山の岩根をとめて落つる
滝の白玉千世のかずかも
滝の白玉千世のかずかも
- Roma-ji
-
Kame no o no yama no iwane o tomete otsuru
taki no shiratama chiyo no kazu kamo - English Translation
-
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
- Meaning
- From Mount Kame-no-o, along the rooted rocks, the falling cascade—are its white jeweled drops the count of your thousand years?
- Commentary
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Book Seven Felicitations
A poem composed when Prince Sadatoki held a fortieth-year celebration for his grandmother at Ōi.
The turtle, a symbol of long life, is evoked in “Kame-no-o,” while the countless droplets of the waterfall are likened to the many years of a long life. In this way, the poem celebrates the recipient’s longevity with an image of abundance and continuity.
- Author
- Ki no Koretake
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- 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
- 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
- idly passing by the months and days I do not feel— yet when I behold the spring spent gazing at blossoms how few such seasons there are
- when spring arrives first to bloom at my dwelling— the plum blossoms there I behold them as adornment for your thousand years of life