Inishie no nana no sakashiki hitotachi mo horiseshi mono wa sake ni shi arurashi

いにしへの七の賢しき人たちも
欲りせしものは酒にしあるらし

Roma-ji: Inishie no nana no sakashiki hitotachi mo horiseshi mono wa sake ni shi arurashi
English Translation: Of the ancient days,
the seven wise and learned men,
those sages as well—
what it was they longed for most,
it was wine, so it would seem.
Meaning: Even the Seven Sages of old, it seems, desired nothing so much as sake.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 340

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thirteen poems in praise of sake by the Governor-General of Dazaifu, Lord Ōtomo"
This is the third of the thirteen poems in praise of sake by the Governor-General Lord Ōtomo. Citing the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove—seven wise men of the Jin dynasty in China who withdrew from the world to drink and converse in a bamboo grove—he says that what even these sages sought was wine. Following the sages of the previous poem, it praises wine through the tale of the worthies.
The thirteen poems in praise of sake form a sequence in which Tabito, at Dazaifu, extols wine as a way of rejecting worldly cleverness and consoling life's sorrows, drawing on Chinese precedents such as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was a son of Ōtomo no Yasumaro. He served as Middle Counselor and Governor-General of Dazaifu before rising to Great Counselor, and died in Tenpyō 3 (731). Steeped in Chinese letters, he was at the center of a poetic circle with Yamanoue no Okura and others while serving in Tsukushi.

First line "Of the ancient days" means long ago.
Second line "the seven wise and learned men" refers to the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.
Third line "those sages as well": after the sages of the preceding poem, the worthies are cited here.
Fourth line "what it was they longed for most": horisu means to desire.
Fifth line "it was wine, so it would seem": shi is emphatic and rashi inferential. The fifth poem of the sequence has the same last line, reinforcing his reverence for wine.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito
Source: Manyoshu
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