君が代にあへるは誰も嬉しきを
花は色にも出でにけるかな
花は色にも出でにけるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi ga yo ni aeru wa tare mo ureshiki o hana wa iro ni mo ide ni keru kana
- English Translation
-
To meet with the reign
of my lord is to everyone
a source of great joy,
yet the blossoms in their colors
have let it show so plainly.
- Meaning
- Everyone rejoices to have met with my lord's reign, but the blossoms have let their joy show even in their colors.
- Commentary
-
Book Seven Felicitation Poems 732
Headnote: "When people offered poems on the theme 'The Blossoms Show Joyful Colors' in the reign of Retired Emperor Nijō."
This is the first poem of the sequence on blossoms in the reign of Nijō. Everyone is glad to have met with the lord's reign, but the blossoms have shown that joy in their colors. According to the headnote, it was composed when people offered poems on the topic "The Blossoms Show Joyful Colors" in the reign of Nijō.
The author served as Minister of Justice and wrote the poetic treatise Waka dōmōshō.
The scene is blossom time in the reign of Nijō, and the place is the palace.
The direct occasion is a composition on the topic "Ka yū kishoku," that is, "The Blossoms Show Joyful Colors."
Nijō was a son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa and reigned as Emperor Nijō from Hōgen 3 (1158) to Eiman 1 (1165).
The first line, "kimi ga yo ni," means "in my lord's reign." 713 in this book begins with the same first line and sings of springs met in the lord's reign.
The second line, "aeru wa tare mo," means "to have met with it, everyone." "Ru" expresses continuation, showing the joy of living now in this reign.
The third line, "ureshiki o," means "though it is a joy," with "o" as a conjunctive particle. The joy of people is stated first.
The fourth line, "hana wa iro ni mo," means "the blossoms, even in their colors." The idiom "iro ni izu," to show one's feelings outwardly, is turned toward the colors of the blossoms, and "iro" takes up "shoku," color, in the topic "joyful colors."
The last line, "ide ni keru kana," means "how it has come out," adding the exclamatory "kana" to "ni keri." People keep their joy within, but the blossoms have let it show in their colors; the poem thus explains the topic "The Blossoms Show Joyful Colors" through reasoning. The next poem, 733, also concerns blossoms in the same reign, and the two stand together.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Norikane
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- My lord's reign indeed will surely long endure, as at Watarai the stream of the Isuzu River flows on and never ceases.
- On the evergreen pine where it hangs, the moss upon it— since it is such moss, of the long cord of the years a guide it is, so I think.
- Though at the cost of life, I'll not grieve for the blossoms: in my lord's long reign the springs that we are to see are springs that know no limit.
- All under heaven, the plants and trees now budding, far as eyes can see— knowing no bounds, stretching on, the ages of this reign to come.