伏して思ひ起きて数ふるよろづよは
神ぞ知るらむ我が君のため
神ぞ知るらむ我が君のため
- Roma-ji
-
Fushite omoi okite kazouru yorozuyo wa
kami zo shiruramu waga kimi no tame - English Translation
-
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
- Meaning
- Lying down I pray, rising I count the passing years—those ten thousand ages, the gods alone must surely know, all for the sake of my lord.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Felicitations
A poem written on a screen set behind Prince Motoyasu at his seventieth celebration banquet.
The poet expresses a fervent wish for the lord’s long life, praying again and again. Since the span of life lies beyond human power, it is entrusted to the gods, who surely know this devotion and will grant it, revealing the poet’s earnest longing for the lord’s enduring years.
- Author
- Sosei Hoshi
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- when spring arrives first to bloom at my dwelling— the plum blossoms there I behold them as adornment for your thousand years of life
- 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
- crane and tortoise too know not what lies beyond a thousand years— so to my heart that cannot ever be content I yield, and let it reach the end
- for ten thousand years in the pine I have blessed you— my lord, it is so for beneath your thousand years’ shade I would dwell and live in peace