Suganoneno nagaranoyamano minenomatsu fukikurukazemo yorozuyonokoe

English Translation

Like the sedge's root,
on Nagara mountain's ridge
stand the pine trees,
and the wind that comes blowing there
is a voice of ten thousand reigns

Meaning

The wind that comes blowing through the pines on the ridge of Nagara mountain is itself a voice praising ten thousand reigns.

Commentary

Book One: Odoro no Shita

Go-Toba, the eighty-second sovereign, was the fourth son of Takakura. After the Taira fled west with the child emperor Antoku, the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa summoned his grandsons to look at them; the third prince wept and would not go near him, but the fourth prince climbed at once onto his knee and seemed fond of him, so the Cloistered Emperor exclaimed that here was a true grandson, and in the eighth month of Juei 2 set him on the throne at the age of four. The sacred sword had gone down into the sea with the former emperor, so that for the first time an accession took place without the three regalia. After the Cloistered Emperor's death Go-Toba ruled in his own right; the realm was at peace and the way of poetry flourished. In Kenkyu 9, at nineteen, he abdicated to Tsuchimikado and began his cloistered rule, building a villa at Minase where he spent himself on the pleasures of the seasons. He held the poetry contest in fifteen hundred rounds, established the Bureau of Poetry, had the Shinkokinshu compiled, and held its celebratory banquet in Genkyu 2. In Jogen 4 he set Tsuchimikado aside and raised Juntoku to the throne, and Juntoku too gave himself to poetry. At Minase the retired emperor played go and small archery, explained the old precedent of the stakes, and had a guardsman prepare the dish described by Murasaki Shikibu—in everything he showed the range of his gifts. At the selected poetry contest of Kempo 2, Fujiwara no Hideyoshi of the Northern Guard was called on for nine poems; the Yoshimizu bishop Jien offered the retired emperor a long poem, and Teika wrote a long poem in reply on the spot. The new retired emperor Tsuchimikado composed a hundred poems privately, showed them to Ietaka and Teika, and exchanged poems with Teika.
Go-Toba's personal name was Takahira; he was the fourth son of Takakura, and his mother was Shichijoin, daughter of Nobutaka, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. Tsuchimikado's personal name was Tamehito, and his mother was Shomeimon'in, daughter of the priest Noen and adopted daughter of the Inner Minister Michichika. Juntoku's personal name was Morinari, and his mother was Shumeimon'in. The regent Kujo Yoshitsune was called a saint of poetry, and the compilers of the Shinkokinshu were Michitomo, Ariie, Teika, Ietaka and Masatsune. The Middle Counselor Kanemitsu, Fujiwara no Kanemitsu, and the Middle Counselor Sukezane, Fujiwara no Sukezane, were each called on for screen poems at an accession thanksgiving. Kunaikyo was descended from Emperor Murakami through the Minister of the Left Toshifusa, and was the daughter of a man who died holding only the fourth rank. Fujiwara no Hideyoshi served in the retired emperor's Northern Guard, and the Yoshimizu bishop Jien was a poet-monk who long held the office of Tendai abbot.
In the eleventh month of Jogen 4, Go-Toba set Tsuchimikado aside and placed the second prince on the throne. Tsuchimikado was sixteen that year and still far from the height of his life, and even the retired emperor found it hard and touching. Tsuchimikado was of a refined, easy nature; he was not without inward feeling, but he let nothing of it show. In the twelfth month of that year he received the title of retired sovereign, and since he was now called the new retired emperor, his father came to be called the senior retired emperor.
The new emperor held his accession thanksgiving on the thirteenth day of the eleventh month of Kenryaku 2. The Middle Counselor Sukezane, who had served at the previous thanksgiving as well, was again called on for the screen poems of the principal region, and composed this on the topic of Choraku mountain.
The narrator adds that everyone knows such things and that to tell them as though new must be the failing of old age, remarks that this reign was full of splendid progresses, and moves to the imperial visit to the Kasuga shrine in Kempo 2.

The first line is a pillow word for length, leading into the place name of the second. Nagara mountain in Omi carries within it the sound of length taken over from the sedge root, so that long duration sounds through the name. The third line sets the evergreen pine of the ridge as the emblem of what does not change, and the scene closes there. The particle in the fourth line adds the wind to the pine: not only the tree but the wind as well. The poem ends on a noun, a voice of ten thousand reigns, hearing in the sound of wind through pines the very voice of blessing. Sight and hearing are laid together and turned into praise. Like the screen poem for Go-Toba's own thanksgiving, "Kamiyoyori kyōnotametoya yatsukahoni nagatanoineno shinaisomekemu", it describes the features of a province and by that very description blesses the new reign in advance.

Author

Fujiwara no Sukezane

Source

Masukagami

Other