Minasoko no iro sae fukaki matsu ga e ni chitose o kanete sakeru fujinami - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

水底の色さへ深き松が枝に
千年をかねて咲ける藤波

Roma-ji: Minasoko no iro sae fukaki matsu ga e ni chitose o kanete sakeru fujinami
English Translation: On the pine branches
whose color is deep even
in the water's depths,
promising a thousand years,
the wisteria waves bloom
Meaning: On the pine boughs, whose color runs deep even in their reflection on the water, the wisteria blooms in waves, as if pledged to a thousand years.
Commentary: Book Three Spring Poems III 124

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poem sings of wisteria hanging from pine branches so deep in color that it shows even in the water's depths, blooming as if looking ahead a thousand years. In the pairing of long-lived pine and wisteria lies a wish for lasting prosperity.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."

The first line, "Minasoko no," presents the bottom of the water, here the reflection in it.
In the second line, "sae" is additive: "deep in color even in the reflection." It corresponds with "soko mo midori ni miyuru hamamatsu" of 111 in this book in singing the deep color of pines reflected in the depths.
The third line, "matsu ga e ni," means "on the branches of the pine," a symbol of long life.
In the fourth line, "kanu" means to look ahead to the future: "anticipating even the pine's thousand years."
In the last line, "fujinami" likens the swaying wisteria clusters to waves and is an associated word for "minasoko" in the first line. The poem ends on a noun. The next poems, 125 through 130, come from a wisteria banquet.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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