昔見し庭の小松に年古りて
嵐の音を梢にぞ聞く
嵐の音を梢にぞ聞く
- Roma-ji
-
Mukashi mishi niwa no komatsu ni toshi furite arashi no oto o kozue ni zo kiku
- English Translation
-
The little garden pine
that I saw once long ago
has grown old with years—
now the roaring of the storm
in its high boughs I hear.
- Meaning
- The little pine in the garden I once saw has grown old with the years, and now I hear the roar of the storm in its high branches.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1679
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence on old fields and villages. The little garden pine he once saw has grown great with the years, and now he hears the storm roaring in its high branches. The headnote gives the topic as unknown and records nothing of the circumstances.
The author, continuing from the preceding poem, is Saigyō. Named Satō Norikiyo in lay life, he was a guard in the service of Retired Emperor Toba and took holy orders at the age of twenty-three.
The first line, "mukashi mishi," means "that I saw long ago." Taking up "sara ni mukashi o" of the preceding poem, it calls up a past actually seen.
The second line, "niwa no komatsu ni," means "to the little pine in the garden."
The third line, "toshi furite," means "the years having aged it."
The fourth line, "arashi no oto o," means "the sound of the storm." The little pine has become a great tree whose top sounds with the storm.
The last line, "kozue ni zo kiku," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive form "kiku." From the growth of the little pine the poet learns how long the years have been. Like 1634 in this book, where a shallow hillside became a deep mountain path, it sees the years in the growth of trees.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Shigeki no o iku hitomura ni wakenashite sara ni mukashi o shinobikaesan
- Next Poem
-
Suminareshi waga furusato wa kono goro ya asaji ga hara ni uzura nakuran