Moshiogusa kaku tomo tsukiji kimi ga yo no kazu ni yomioku Waka no uranami

English Translation

Like seaweed for salt,
though raked and written, they'll not end—
for my lord's long reign
as its count, the poems I set down,
the waves of Waka Bay.

Meaning

Like seaweed raked for salt, however much I gather and write them, they will never run out—the poems I compose and set down as the count of my lord's reign, endless as the waves on Waka Bay.

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitation Poems 741

Headnote: "Presented on the day I first came to court after becoming Chief Clerk of the Office of Poetry."
This poem of felicitation was composed at the Office of Poetry. The poems composed as the count of the lord's reign, like the waves of Waka Bay, will never run out however much they are gathered and written, as seaweed for salt is raked. According to the headnote, it was presented on the day the poet first came to court after becoming Chief Clerk of the Office of Poetry.
The author was a son of Minamoto no Tokinaga. He served Retired Emperor Go-Toba as Chief Clerk of the Office of Poetry and wrote the Minamoto no Ienaga nikki.
The scene is the day he first came to court as Chief Clerk of the Office of Poetry, and the place is the Office of Poetry.
The direct occasion is his appointment as Chief Clerk of the Office of Poetry and his first attendance there.
The Office of Poetry was established by Retired Emperor Go-Toba at his palace in Kennin 1 (1201) for the compilation of an imperial anthology, and the Chief Clerk managed its affairs. Waka Bay is a poetic place in Kii Province, the seashore of present-day Wakayama City.

The first line, "moshiogusa," is seaweed raked together to burn for salt. The word was also used for drafts of poems gathered and written down.
In the second line, "kaku tomo tsukiji," "kaku" is a pivot word meaning both to rake seaweed and to write poems. "Ji" expresses negative conjecture: "however much I write, they will not run out." The sense breaks after the second line.
The third line, "kimi ga yo no," means "of my lord's reign." The work of the Office of Poetry is presented as a labor of celebrating the enduring reign.
In the fourth line, "kazu ni yomioku," "yomi" is a pivot word meaning both to count and to compose poems. As with "the number of years" in 710 in this book, poems are placed as a means of counting the years of the reign.
In the last line, "Waka no uranami," "Waka" is a pivot word joining Waka Bay, a poetic place in Kii Province, and waka, poetry. Linking seaweed for salt and waves as associated words of the seashore, the poem lays endless poems over endlessly breaking waves. Ending on a noun, it places poetry itself at the close through inversion.

Author

Minamoto no Ienaga

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other