Suminoe ni oisou matsu no edagoto ni kimi ga chitose no kazu zo komoreru

English Translation

At Suminoe,
on the pine that grows and grows,
in each of its boughs
the count of my lord's thousand years
lies held within, laid away.

Meaning

In every bough of the pines that keep growing at Suminoe, the count of my lord's thousand years lies held within.

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitation Poems 725

Headnote: "Composed on the spirit of 'Felicitation' at the Empress's Poetry Contest of Tengi 4."
This is the first poem of the sequence of felicitations through pines. In every bough of the pines that keep growing at Suminoe, the count of the lord's thousand years is held. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Felicitation" at the Empress's poetry contest of Tengi 4.
The author was a son of Minamoto no Toshikata; he rose to Provisional Major Counselor and was called the Uji Major Counselor.
The scene is a celebratory landscape with no season specified, and the place is the beach of Suminoe where pines grow.
The direct occasion is a composition on the topic "Felicitation" at the poetry contest held under Fujiwara no Kanshi, empress of Emperor Go-Reizei, in Tengi 4 (1056).
Suminoe is a poetic place in Settsu Province, the seashore around present-day Sumiyoshi Ward in Osaka. As the seat of the Sumiyoshi deity, it was sung together with pines.

The first line, "Suminoe ni," means "at Suminoe." 714 in this book also sings of the beach of Suminoe, so the conceit of placing emblems of longevity at Sumiyoshi recurs.
The second line, "oisou matsu no," means "of the pines that grow anew." It shares its words with "the bamboo that grows anew" in 715 in this book, entrusting permanence to evergreens that increase year by year.
The third line, "edagoto ni," means "in each and every bough." The many boughs draw out "kazu," count, in the last line.
The fourth line, "kimi ga chitose no," means "of my lord's thousand years." Like "the count of a thousand years" in the preceding poem, 724, it presents the age or reign of the one celebrated as a thousand years.
In the last line, "kazu zo komoreru," the emphatic particle "zo" is concluded by "ru," the attributive form of the continuative "ri," in kakari-musubi. Imagining a thousand years held one by one in the boughs, the poem turns visible pine branches into a count of years. The next poem, 726, also celebrates through pines, continuing the pine poems.

Author

Minamoto no Takakuni

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other