天地を照らす日月の極みなく
あるべきものを何をか思はむ
あるべきものを何をか思はむ
- Roma-ji
-
Ametsuchi o terasu hitsuki no kiwami naku arubeki mono o nani o ka omowamu
- English Translation
-
As the sun and moon
shine down on heaven and earth
with no bound or end,
so this reign must last forever:
what is there to trouble us?
- Meaning
- Like the sun and moon that shine on heaven and earth without end, this reign must go on forever; what is there to worry about?
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4486
Headnote: "On the eighteenth day of the eleventh month of Tenpyō Hōji 1, a banquet in the palace; two poems."
Like the sun and moon shining on heaven and earth without end, this reign must last forever; what is there to worry about? A poem blessing the eternity of the reign. According to the headnote, it comes from a palace banquet on the eighteenth of the eleventh month of Tenpyō Hōji 1 (757). The left note says it is the Crown Prince's poem. This was the year of the Tachibana no Naramaro conspiracy, and the poem is thought to carry the meaning of a declaration of peace for the reign after the turmoil.
The author, Prince Ōi, was a son of Prince Toneri. At this time he was crown prince to Empress Kōken, and he later ascended the throne as Emperor Junnin.
The first line, "ametsuchi o," "heaven and earth," names the whole world.
The second line, "terasu hitsuki no," "of the sun and moon that shine," symbolizes the eternally unchanging.
The third line, "kiwami naku," "without end": the first three lines form a figure for the reign's permanence.
The fourth line, "arubeki mono o," "though it is meant to last," uses the concessive mono o.
The closing line, "nani o ka omowamu," uses ka rhetorically: what is there to worry about? Nothing. The next poem takes this up to admonish the courtiers.
- Author
- Prince Ōi
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Toki no hana iya mezurashi mo kaku shi koso meshi akirameme aki tatsu goto ni
- Next Poem
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Iza kodomo tawawaza na se so ametsuchi no katameshi kuni zo Yamatoshimane wa