Suetōki chiyonokagekoso hisashikere madafutabanaru iwasakinomatsu

English Translation

Far into the future
the shade of a thousand ages
is the enduring thing—
though it is still but two leaves,
this pine of Iwasaki

Meaning

Long indeed is the shade of a thousand ages that lies ahead—though the pine of Iwasaki is still no more than two leaves.

Commentary

Book Four: Mikamiyama

The prince whom the Major Counselor Michikata of the Minamoto had in his keeping, the son of the retired emperor of Awa, grew up quick and keen in temper, handsome and noble in bearing, so that people thought it a waste. When even Michikata died about the Ryakunin years, there was no one left to serve him in earnest; he lived in loneliness, waiting for nothing in particular, and felt it undignified and futile. His mother was the daughter of Michimune, the Consultant and Middle Captain who had died young, son of the Inner Minister Michichika of Tsuchimikado; and since she too was gone, a sister of Michimune served him in place of a nurse. He had lost his father at the age of two and could not even recall his face, but while he believed him still in this world he had kept a secret childish hope that they might somehow meet. When word came, in his twelfth year, that his father had died, he sank deeper into a sense of the world's bitterness and grew altogether grave, and Shomeimon'in watched him with pity and sorrow. On the fifth of the first month of Ninji 2 the emperor came of age at eleven; his personal name was Hidehito. In the twelfth month the daughter of the late regent Norizane of Toin, then nine, entered the palace as consort amid great splendour, surrounded by her grandfather the senior lord and her uncles. Emperor and consort were both so young that they seemed to be playing with dolls. The whole realm lay at the senior lord's disposal. The prince at Tsuchimikado had passed twenty with no talk of his coming of age. When the bishop Shinsho of Jokoji proposed to take him as a disciple, he thought he might accept and hinted as much to the retired empress, who forbade it as altogether unthinkable. That winter he went in strict secrecy to the Iwashimizu shrine, and while dozing after long prayers he heard, from within the sanctuary, a clear and lofty voice intoning that the shadow of the camellia leaf would be renewed a second time. Looking up, he found the dawn sky clear and the stars sharp, and the place full of awe. He wondered what such a dream could mean but told no one, and applied himself the harder to his studies. The year turned. In the first month of Ninji 3 the emperor fell ill on the fifth, could not take his place at the banquet of the seventh, and died at dawn on the ninth. Everyone was too stunned even to weep. The consort, still at her childish games and clinging to him without understanding, sat sunk and silent, which was pitiful to see. There was neither heir nor brother, and people cast about, wondering what would become of the world. Word was sent east. The shogun was the senior lord's son, now called Major Counselor; his guardian was Yasutoki, who had gone up in the Joukyu years. He was at ease with Tokifusa, having his men shoot at small archery and drinking, when a courier came from the capital; from that very seat he began the rites and drew lots at the Wakamiya shrine. In the capital there was loose talk of the sons of the retired emperor of Sado. Shumeimon'in's hopes rose and she quietly made preparations, and Shomeimon'in offered prayers of every kind in case it might be. On the day the eastern envoy was said to be entering the capital, both retired empresses posted watchers at Shirakawa to see which way he went. Joganosuke Yoshikage rode out to the bank of the Third Avenue river and asked a shabby retainer, of all people, where the residence of Shomeimon'in was; hearing it named, the man could scarcely believe himself awake. Told the way, Yoshikage went to the Tsuchimikado residence, but the gate was matted shut with vines, the doors rusted and the posts rotted through, and would not open; his men forced it, and inside the garden was deep in grass and green moss, with nothing to answer but the wind in the pines and no trace of anyone passing. Only Lord Sadamichi, who had adopted Michimune's younger brother, was in attendance in a limp cap and cloak, thinking something might yet come of it, and he came out to the middle gate to receive him. When Yoshikage announced that the son of the retired emperor of Awa was to take the throne, everyone in the house, high and low, felt it a dream. This was the nineteenth day of the first month of Ninji 3. The next day he came of age; his personal name was Kunihito and he was twenty-three. That same night he moved to the Reizei Madenokoji residence, and the regalia were brought from the Kan'in palace. At the Kan'in palace the posthumous name was settled and the rites arranged, and on the twenty-fifth he was interred near Sennyuji on the eastern hills and called Shijoin. He acceded after the eighteenth day of the third month of Ninji 3, and all went as splendidly as could be. Lord Kanetsune of Okanoya had been regent since Katei 3 and continued so at the start of this reign, but on the twenty-fifth of the third month the office passed to the Minister of the Left Yoshizane. In the tenth month the realm bustled with the purification, and then the accession thanksgiving was held, for which the Consultant Sugawara no Tamenaga was called on for the screen poems of the principal region and the Middle Counselor Tsunemitsu for the folk-style poems of the secondary region. Because the reigning emperor had come to such splendour, the Consultant Michimune was posthumously granted the rank of Minister of the Left and the senior first rank, and his daughter was posthumously made empress. The daughter of Lord Saneuji, then eighteen, was made consort and entered the palace on the third day of the sixth month, and on the ninth day of the eighth month she was raised to empress. People could not keep from remarking that when the prince had lived in the Major Counselor's house as a prince without rank, in such poor and uncertain circumstances, no one would have dreamed of it even in jest.
The prince at Awa, whose personal name was Kunihito, was the son of Tsuchimikado, who had been moved from Tosa to Awa. His mother was the daughter of Michimune, Consultant and Middle Captain, son of the Inner Minister Michichika of Tsuchimikado. The Major Counselor Michikata of the Minamoto was Michimune's younger brother and had the prince in his keeping; Lord Sadamichi had adopted another of Michimune's younger brothers. Shomeimon'in was the mother of Tsuchimikado, and Shumeimon'in the mother of Juntoku, the retired emperor of Sado. Shijoin's personal name was Hidehito, and his consort was the daughter of the late regent Norizane of Toin. The senior lord Michiie was called the Komyobuji lord, and his sons included Lord Kanetsune of Okanoya and the Minister of the Left Yoshizane, who is reckoned the founder of the Nijo house. The shogun in the east was the senior lord's son, his guardian was Yasutoki, and Tokifusa was with him. Joganosuke Yoshikage came up to the capital as the envoy of the east. The Consultant Sugawara no Tamenaga was called on for the screen poems of the principal region at the thanksgiving, and the Middle Counselor Tsunemitsu for the folk-style poems of the secondary region. The daughter of Lord Saneuji became consort; her mother was the daughter of the Major Counselor Takahira of Shijo.
In Ninji 3 the accession thanksgiving of Go-Saga was held, and the Consultant Sugawara no Tamenaga composed the screen poems of the principal region on the topic of the mountain of the three gods.
The Middle Counselor Tsunemitsu was then called on for the folk-style poems of the secondary region, and this is his poem on the pine of Iwasaki. Folk-style poems take as their topics the local features of the province concerned.
After this poem the narrative says that because the reigning emperor had come to such splendour, the Consultant Michimune was posthumously granted the rank of Minister of the Left and the senior first rank and his daughter posthumously made empress; the book then closes with the entry into the palace and elevation of Lord Saneuji's daughter.

The first line speaks of a future far ahead, and in the second the word for shade is the shade of a pine; the emphatic particle is answered by the perfective form of the adjective in the third, declaring that a shade lasting a thousand ages is the enduring thing. To this point the poem states a future not yet seen. The fourth line turns about and reveals that the pine is at present no more than a pair of newly sprouted leaves. The close rests on a noun, the place name. The extremes of small and great, brief and long, are divided between the upper and lower lines in an inversion: by holding up the great future first and disclosing the small present after, the length of time still to come is thrown into relief. Entrusting the future of a reign to a young pine recalls "Ariekemu motonochitoseni furimosede wagakimichigiru minenowakamatsu" in the first book, but where that lays an old pine over a young one, this sets two leaves directly against a thousand ages.

Author

Fujiwara no Tsunemitsu

Source

Masukagami

Other