大原や小塩の山も今日こそは
神代のことも思ひ出づらめ
神代のことも思ひ出づらめ
- Roma-ji
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Ōhara ya oshio no yama mo kyō koso wa kamiyo no koto mo omoiizurame
- English Translation
-
Ōhara—
and the mount of Oshio,
on this day of days,
the things of the age of gods
surely it recalls them too.
- Meaning
- Surely today, of all days, Mount Oshio in Ōhara is remembering the things of the age of the gods.
- Commentary
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Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 871
Headnote: "Composed on the day the Nijō Empress, still called the Crown Prince's mother, visited Ōharano Shrine"
Composed on the day Fujiwara no Takaiko, the Nijō Empress, while still called the mother of the Crown Prince, visited Ōharano Shrine, which honors the clan deity of the Fujiwara. The poet celebrates her visit, saying that today even Mount Oshio must be recalling the age of the gods, when Ame-no-Koyane, ancestor of the Fujiwara, served the Heavenly Grandson.
The author, "Narihira no Ason," is Ariwara no Narihira, son of Prince Abo, himself a son of Emperor Heizei, and one of the Six Poetic Immortals.
The poem also appears in Episode 76 of The Tales of Ise, and it is also read as quietly carrying Narihira's memory of his former love for Takaiko.
First line "Ōhara ya" calls out to the place of Ōharano Shrine with the exclamatory ya.
Second line "oshio no yama mo" is Mount Oshio behind the shrine; the mountain is personified as one who remembers.
Third line "kyō koso wa": koso forms a kakari-musubi with rame in the last line, stressing the festive day of the empress's visit.
Fourth line "kamiyo no koto mo" points to the mythic age when the Fujiwara ancestor served the Heavenly Grandson; some also read in it Narihira's own past love.
Fifth line "omoiizurame" closes koso with rame, the perfective form of the present-conjecture auxiliary ramu.
- Author
- Ariwara no Narihira
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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