梅の花咲き散る春の長き日を
見れども飽かぬ磯にもあるかも
見れども飽かぬ磯にもあるかも
- Roma-ji
-
Ume no hana sakichiru haru no nagaki hi o miredomo akanu iso ni mo aru kamo
- English Translation
-
The plum blossoms bloom
and they scatter through the long
days of the spring;
gazing on and on I find
this rocky shore never palls
- Meaning
- Through the long spring days when the plum blossoms bloom and fall, this rocky pond shore is one I can never tire of gazing at.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4502
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "In the second month, a banquet at the residence of Nakatomi no Kiyomaro, Senior Assistant Minister of Ceremonial; fifteen poems."
Through the long spring day when plums bloom and fall, this rocky pond shore never palls: a poem praising the host's garden. The left note attributes it to Kannabi no Ikago, Senior Assistant Minister of the Treasury. Pairing the plums sung of since the banquet's start with the rocky shore from Yakamochi's poem, it praises the beauty of the whole garden.
The author, Kannabi no Ikago, formerly Prince Ikago, later received the surname Kannabi no Mahito. At this time he was Senior Assistant Minister of the Treasury.
The first line, "ume no hana," names the garden plums of the banquet since the first poem, the same as the first line two poems before.
The second line, "sakichiru haru no," means "of spring, when they bloom and fall."
The third line, "nagaki hi o," "the long day," shows the length of the banquet.
The fourth line, "miredomo akanu," "never tiring of gazing," is a stock phrase of praise.
The closing line, "iso ni mo aru kamo," "what a rocky shore it is," ends in the exclamatory kamo, taking up the shore of Yakamochi's "pine by the shore."
- Author
- Kannabi no Ikago
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Yachikusa no hana wa utsurou tokiwa naru matsu no saeda o ware wa musubana
- Next Poem
-
Kimi ga ie no ike no shiranami iso ni yose shibashiba mitomo akamu kimi kamo