Kamiyo yori kyō no tame to ya yatsukaho ni Nagata no ine no shinai someken

English Translation

Since the age of gods,
was it for this very day
in long, heavy ears
that the rice of Nagata
first began to bend and bow?

Meaning

Was it for this very day, ever since the age of the gods, that the rice of Nagata first began to bend beneath its long, heavy ears?

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitation Poems 754

Headnote: "A rice-pounding song for the Suki side at the Great Thanksgiving Festival of Juei 1, composed on Nagata Village in Tanba Province."
This is the eighth poem of the sequence of Great Thanksgiving Festival poems. The speaker wonders whether the rice of Nagata began to bend under its long ears for this very day, ever since the age of the gods. According to the headnote, it is a rice-pounding song on Nagata Village in Tanba, chosen as the Suki province for the Great Thanksgiving Festival of Juei 1.
The author was a son of Fujiwara no Sukenaga and rose to Provisional Middle Counselor.
The scene is the Great Thanksgiving Festival of Juei 1, and the place is the rice fields of Nagata Village in Tanba Province.
The direct occasion is the composition, as a rice-pounding song, on a place name of Tanba Province, designated as the Suki province for the Great Thanksgiving Festival of Emperor Antoku in Juei 1 (1182).

The first line, "kamiyo yori," means "since the age of the gods." It is the same phrase as the third line "kamiyo yori" of 736 in this book; there it sang of the land being made firm, while here the ripening of rice is sung as prepared since the age of the gods.
In the second line, "kyō no tame to ya," "ya" is an interrogative particle concluded by "ken" in the last line. It takes the same form as "kimi ga tame to ya" in 736 in this book, treating this festival day as appointed since the age of the gods.
The third line, "yatsukaho ni," means "in long ears." "Yatsuka" is a length of eight hand-breadths, describing richly ripened ears.
The fourth line, "Nagata no ine no," means "of the rice of Nagata Village" in Tanba Province. The place name also echoes "long field," overlapping with the abundance of the long ears.
The last line, "shinai someken," means "did it begin to bend?" closing the kakari-musubi with the attributive form of the conjectural past "ken." Seeing the rice bent under the weight of its ears as having begun to ripen for today's festival since the age of the gods, the poem binds the harvest of the Suki province to divine time.

Author

Fujiwara no Kanemitsu

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other