峰たかき春日の山にいづる日は
くもる時なく照らすべらなり
くもる時なく照らすべらなり
- Roma-ji
-
Mine takaki Kasuga no yama ni izuru hi wa
kumoru toki naku terasu beranari - English Translation
-
From Kasuga's mount
high-peaked, the rising sun—
never veiled by clouds,
shall without a clouded hour
shine upon the world, it seems
- Meaning
- The sun that rises over lofty Mount Kasuga will surely shine upon the world without ever being clouded.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven: Poems of Celebration
A poem composed when the Crown Prince (Prince Yasuakira) was born and the poet came to offer congratulations.
The birth of the Crown Prince is likened to the sun rising over a mountain. "Mount Kasuga" is the mountain where the shrine dedicated to Ame-no-Koyane-no-Mikoto, the ancestral deity of the Fujiwara clan, stands, and the sun rising from there symbolizes the prince. "Without clouds" means without difficulties or obstacles, and "to shine upon" carries the meaning of ruling or governing.
As a poem celebrating the birth of a prince, it is difficult to imagine a more auspicious verse. Yet knowing that Prince Yasuakira died young in 923 at the age of twenty-one makes even this joyful poem feel somewhat poignant.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Yoruka
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Shirayuki no furishiku toki wa Miyoshino no
yamashitakaze ni hana zo chirikeru - Next Poem
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Tachiwakare Inaba no yama no mine ni ouru
matsu to shi kikaba ima kaerimu