ちはやぶる賀茂の社の姫小松
万代経とも色は変はらじ
万代経とも色は変はらじ
- Roma-ji
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Chihayaburu kamo no yashiro no himekomatsu yorozuyo fu tomo iro wa kawaraji
- English Translation
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Chihayaburu:
at the shrine of Kamo stands
the little princess pine;
though ten thousand ages pass,
its color will not change.
- Meaning
- The little pine at the sacred Kamo Shrine will keep its green unchanged though ten thousand ages pass.
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Poems of the Bureau of Court Song 1100
Headnote: "A Song for the Winter Kamo Festival"
As the young pine at the Kamo Shrine will not change its color through ten thousand ages, the song blesses the lasting festival and reign. The winter Kamo festival is the Kamo special festival begun by Emperor Uda in 889, and this was composed as an azuma-asobi song for it. As the last poem of all twenty books of the Kokin Wakashū, it entrusts eternity to the evergreen pine and closes the whole anthology with words of blessing.
The author, recorded as "Fujiwara no Toshiyuki Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Fujimaro and served as head chamberlain and captain of the Right Military Guards. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals and was also famed as a calligrapher.
The poem follows the songs of the East, a placement said to reflect its performance as an azuma-asobi song at the Kamo special festival.
The first line, "chihayaburu," is a pillow word for Kamo and other words tied to the gods.
The second line, "of the Kamo Shrine," names the Kamo shrines of Kyoto, Kamigamo and Shimogamo.
The third line, "the little princess pine," means a small and lovely young pine at the shrine; it does not end a clause but is the subject of the lower lines.
The fourth line, "though ten thousand ages pass," uses tomo for a concessive supposition. It takes up "looking ahead a thousand years" in 1069 and "until ten thousand ages" in 1083 and 1084, piling up blessings of eternity at the book's end to answer its opening.
The last line, "its color will not change," uses ji, negative conjecture, entrusting permanence to the evergreen pine to close the entire anthology.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ōnoura ni katae sashiōi naru nashi no nari mo narazu mo nete katarawamu