Kimi ga yo wa hisashikarubeshi Watarai ya Isuzu no kawa no nagare taesede

English Translation

My lord's reign indeed
will surely long endure,
as at Watarai
the stream of the Isuzu River
flows on and never ceases.

Meaning

My lord's reign will surely long endure, just as the stream of the Isuzu River at Watarai flows on without ever ceasing.

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitation Poems 730

Headnote: "On the spirit of 'Felicitation' at the Palace Poetry Contest of Shōryaku 2."
This poem celebrates through the Isuzu River of Ise. Just as the stream of the Isuzu River at Watarai never ceases, the lord's reign will surely long endure. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Felicitation" at the palace poetry contest of Shōryaku 2.
Born into a family of scholars, the author served as Provisional Middle Counselor and Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu and was called Gōsochi.
The scene is a celebratory landscape with no season specified, and the place is the Isuzu River at Watarai in Ise Province.
The direct occasion is a composition on the topic "Felicitation" at the poetry contest held in the palace of Emperor Shirakawa in Shōryaku 2 (1078).
Watarai is a district of Ise Province where the Ise Shrine stands. The Isuzu River flows through the Inner Shrine of Ise and was sung as a river symbolizing the enduring reign.

The first line, "kimi ga yo wa," means "my lord's reign." The theme of felicitation is raised at the outset.
The second line, "hisashikarubeshi," means "will surely long endure," with "beshi" expressing confident conjecture. The sense breaks after the second line, in inversion with the lower verse.
In the third line, "Watarai ya," "ya" is an exclamatory interjectory particle. Naming the land of the Ise Shrine, it sets divine protection in the background.
The fourth line, "Isuzu no kawa no," means "of the Isuzu River" that flows through the Inner Shrine of Ise.
The last line, "nagare taesede," means "its stream never ceasing." Stating the conclusion "will surely long endure" first and placing its ground, the unceasing flow of the sacred river, afterward in inversion, the poem joins the eternity of the divine river with the permanence of the reign.

Author

Oe no Masafusa

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other