Takasago no matsu mo mukashi ni narinu beshi nao yukusue wa aki no yo no tsuki

English Translation

The Takasago pine
will surely become a thing
of the long-gone past—
still, for all the years to come,
the moon of the autumn night.

Meaning

Even the pine of Takasago will someday become a thing of the past; yet the companion that remains for all the years to come is the moon of the autumn night.

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitation Poems 740

Headnote: "Composed on the theme 'The Moon Is a Friend of Many Autumns' at the Poetry Contest of the Office of Poetry on the Fifteenth Night of the Eighth Month."
This is the second poem of the sequence of felicitations through the pines of poetic places. Even the long-lived pine of Takasago will someday become a thing of the past, but the companion for all the years to come is the moon of the autumn night. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "The Moon Is a Friend of Many Autumns" at the poetry contest of the Office of Poetry on the fifteenth night of the Eighth Month.
The author was named Fujiwara no Sadanaga in lay life. A nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei, he became Shunzei's adopted son. He was appointed a compiler of the Shin kokin wakashū but died before its completion.
The scene is a moonlit night on the fifteenth of the Eighth Month, and the place is a landscape imagined for the topic, a shore where the pines of Takasago stand.
The direct occasion is a composition on the topic "The Moon Is a Friend of Many Autumns" at the poetry contest held in the Office of Poetry on the fifteenth night of the Eighth Month of Kennin 1 (1201).
The source poem is by Fujiwara no Okikaze in the Kokin wakashū: "Tare o ka mo shiru hito ni sen Takasago no matsu mo mukashi no tomo naranaku ni." Takasago is a poetic place in Harima Province, sung as a famous site for pines.

The first line, "Takasago no," means "of Takasago," a poetic place in Harima Province. As a famous site for pines, it introduces the long-lived pine.
The second line, "matsu mo mukashi ni," means "even the pine, into the past." It takes up the words of Okikaze's source poem, "Takasago no matsu mo mukashi no tomo naranaku ni."
The third line, "narinu beshi," means "will surely become," and the sense breaks after the third line. Even the pine said to endure a thousand years will someday become a thing of the past; the poem speaks of the limit of the long-lived pine.
The fourth line, "nao yukusue wa," means "still, for the future." The gaze turns to a future longer than the pine's life.
The last line, "aki no yo no tsuki," ends on a noun. Taking up the topic "The Moon Is a Friend of Many Autumns," it declares that the moon remains a companion through autumn after autumn. Against the pine bidden to yield its years in the preceding poem, 739, this poem sets the moon as a permanence surpassing even the pine, advancing the felicitation a step further.

Author

Jakuren

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other