真金吹く吉備の中山帯にせる
細谷川の音のさやけさ
細谷川の音のさやけさ
- Roma-ji
-
Magane fuku kibi no nakayama obi ni seru hosotani gawa no oto no sayakesa
- English Translation
-
Where true metal is smelted,
Nakayama of Kibi
wears as its sash
the Hosotani River:
how clear, the sound of its waters!
- Meaning
- How pure the murmur of the Hosotani River, which Kibi's Nakayama wears like a sash about its waist.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Poems of the Bureau of Court Song 1082
Headnote: "Kagura Songs: Kaeshimono Song"
The song praises the clear sound of the Hosotani River, which winds like a sash around the foot of Kibi's Nakayama. By praising the province's hills and streams it celebrates the land's prosperity and the emperor's reign. No author is recorded.
Kaeshimono songs are thought to be songs sung in a changed musical mode within the kagura. They run from poem 1081 to 1086, and from 1082 onward each of the five carries a left-hand note saying it was presented by a province at a Great Thanksgiving Festival (daijōe).
The left-hand note says, "This song is the song of the province of Kibi at the daijōe of Jōwa," referring to the Great Thanksgiving of Emperor Ninmyō, for which Kibi (Bitchū) presented it. The daijōe was the first harvest festival held by a newly enthroned emperor, and the provinces chosen as Yuki and Suki presented songs that named places in their own lands.
The first line, "where true metal is smelted," is a pillow word for Kibi, from its fame as a source of iron.
The second line, "the Nakayama of Kibi," names the hill on the border of Bizen and Bitchū, in present-day Okayama City, where Kibitsu Shrine stands.
The third line, "wears as its sash," personifies the hill as wrapping the river around itself; ru marks continuing state.
The fourth line, "of the Hosotani River," names the stream flowing at the foot of Kibi's Nakayama.
The last line, "how clear its sound," ends on a noun formed with sa from an adjective stem, expressing wonder.
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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