春くれば宿にまづ咲く梅の花
君がちとせのかざしとぞ見る
君がちとせのかざしとぞ見る
- Roma-ji
-
Haru kureba yado ni mazu saku ume no hana
kimi ga chitose no kazashi to zo miru - English Translation
-
when spring arrives
first to bloom at my dwelling—
the plum blossoms there
I behold them as adornment
for your thousand years of life
- Meaning
- When spring comes, the plum blossoms that first bloom at my dwelling appear as adornment for your thousand years of life.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Felicitations
A poem written on a screen set behind Prince Motoyasu at his seventieth celebration banquet.
“Kazashi” refers to an ornament worn in the hair. Because the screen stood behind the prince, the plum blossoms appeared above his head from the front, as though they were an adornment placed upon him, symbolizing a blessing for his long life.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- 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
- 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
- whether in ages past such a thing has ever been I do not know— but as the first of a thousand years let it begin with you
- lying down I pray rising I count the years on— ten thousand ages the gods alone must surely know all for the sake of my lord