Suberagi o tokiwa kakiwa ni Moruyama no yamabito narashi yamakazura seri

English Translation

Our sovereign lord
forever firm as the rock
at Moruyama guarding—
mountain folk, so it would seem:
they wear the mountain vines.

Meaning

They must be the mountain folk of Moruyama, who guard our sovereign to remain forever firm as the rock—for they wear garlands of mountain vines.

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitation Poems 749

Headnote: "Composed on Moruyama in Ōmi Province, for a screen of the Yuki side at the Great Thanksgiving Festival of Eishō 1."
This is the third poem of the sequence of Great Thanksgiving Festival poems. They must be the mountain folk of Moruyama who guard the sovereign forever, for they wear mountain vines. According to the headnote, it was composed for a screen on Moruyama in Ōmi Province, chosen as the Yuki province for the Great Thanksgiving Festival of Eishō 1.
The author was a son of Fujiwara no Arikuni and served as Professor of Literature and Senior Assistant Minister of Ceremonial.
The scene is the Great Thanksgiving Festival of Eishō 1, and the place is Moruyama in Ōmi Province, painted on the screen.
The direct occasion is the composition, as a screen poem, on a place name of Ōmi Province, designated as the Yuki province for the Great Thanksgiving Festival of Emperor Go-Reizei in Eishō 1 (1046).
Moruyama is a poetic place in Ōmi Province, in the area of present-day Moriyama City, Shiga.

The first line, "suberagi o," means "the sovereign." It presents the emperor at the outset as the one celebrated.
The second line, "tokiwa kakiwa ni," means "forever unchanging, like the rock." It is the same phrase as the last line of 726 in this book; there it closed a prayer, while here it describes the manner of guarding.
In the third line, "Moruyama no," "moru" is a pivot word meaning both to guard the sovereign and the place name Moruyama. The sense of protection is read into the very name of the Yuki province's place.
In the fourth line, "yamabito narashi," "narashi" is a conjecture meaning "it seems to be." The figures of mountain dwellers are seen as the guardians of Moruyama. The sense breaks after the fourth line.
The last line, "yamakazura seri," means "they wear mountain vines," with "ri" expressing continuation. In inversion, the wearing of mountain vines is the ground for the guess in the fourth line that these are the mountain folk of Moruyama. Following the sun-shade moss garland of the preceding poem, 748, it sings again of vine ornaments tied to Shinto rites.

Author

Fujiwara no Sukenari

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other