よろづ世を松にぞ君をいはひつる
千歳のかげにすまむと思へば
千歳のかげにすまむと思へば
- Roma-ji
-
Yorozuyo o matsu ni zo kimi o iwaitsuru
chitose no kage ni sumamu to omoeba - English Translation
-
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
- Meaning
- For ten thousand years I have entrusted your blessing to the pine; for I would dwell beneath the shade of your thousand years and live in peace.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Felicitations
A poem composed on behalf of his daughter at the fortieth-year celebration of Yoshimine no Tsuneya.
The auxiliary “tsuru” in “iwai-tsuru” indicates completion, but also evokes the crane, a symbol of longevity. The pine and crane, both auspicious motifs in traditional painting, express wishes for prosperity and long life. The poem also conveys a hope that the daughter, too, may live peacefully for a long time under her father’s enduring protection.
- Author
- Sosei Hoshi
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- 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
- 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
- on Kasuga plain while gathering the young herbs— for ten thousand years the heart that offers up such prayer the gods must surely know it
- the mountain is high so in the clouds they appear— the cherry blossoms never a day does my heart not go there and long to pluck