万代をまつの尾山の蔭茂み
君をぞ祈る常磐堅磐に
君をぞ祈る常磐堅磐に
- Roma-ji
-
Yorozuyo o Matsu no Oyama no kage shigemi kimi o zo inoru tokiwa kakiwa ni
- English Translation
-
Awaiting all ages,
Matsu-no-o, the mountain of pines,
so thick is its shade—
it is for you, my lord, I pray:
be as lasting as the rock.
- Meaning
- Since the shade is so thick on Mount Matsu-no-o, whose pines await ten thousand ages, I pray for you, my lord, that you may endure forever, unchanging as the rock.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Felicitation Poems 726
Headnote: "On the spirit of 'Felicitation' at the Kaya-no-in Poetry Contest of the Regent and Former Chancellor in Kanji 8."
This is the second poem of the sequence of felicitations through pines. Because the shade of Mount Matsu-no-o, whose pines await ten thousand ages, is so thick, the speaker prays that the lord may be as lasting as the rock. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Felicitation" at the poetry contest held by the Regent and Former Chancellor at the Kaya-no-in in Kanji 8.
The author was a daughter of Takashina no Narinobu and Ise no Taifu. She married Prince Nobuzane, Head of the Office of Divinities, and bore Prince Yasusuke.
The scene is a celebratory landscape with no season specified, and the place is Mount Matsu-no-o in Yamashiro Province.
The direct occasion is a composition on the topic "Felicitation" at the poetry contest held at the Kaya-no-in by Former Chancellor Fujiwara no Morozane in Kanji 8 (1094).
Mount Matsu-no-o is a mountain in Yamashiro Province, rising behind the Matsuo Shrine in present-day Nishikyō Ward, Kyoto.
The first line, "yorozuyo o," means "ten thousand ages," and leads on to "matsu" to form the sense "awaiting ten thousand ages."
In the second line, "Matsu no Oyama no," "matsu" is a pivot word meaning both "to await" ten thousand ages and "pine" in the name of the mountain. Reading the long-lived pine into the place name adds to the felicitation.
The third line, "kage shigemi," means "because the shade is thick," with "mi" expressing cause. As with "a thousand years' shade" in 709 in this book, the shade of pines becomes a sign of longevity.
In the fourth line, "kimi o zo inoru," the emphatic particle "zo" is concluded by the attributive form "inoru" in kakari-musubi. The sense breaks after this line, in inversion with the last line.
The last line, "tokiwa kakiwa ni," means "forever unchanging, like the rock." By placing the content of the prayer at the end in inversion, and following the boughs counted in the preceding poem, the poem fills the thick pines of the mountain with felicitation for eternity.
- Author
- The Mother of Prince Yasusuke
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- Of my lord's great reign, even the count of thousand years is hidden no more— in the light of the cloudless sky I see it there, shining clear.
- 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.
- Growing up as one, on the slopes of Mount Oshio this field of young pines— from now, for a thousand years, wait for the shade you will cast.
- On the Day of the Rat, within the palace's walls this field of young pines— a thousand ages as a thing elsewhere, how could I regard?