classic waka stream

山人のこれる薪は君がため
多くの年を積まむとぞ思ふ
Roma-ji

Yamabito no koreru takigi wa kimi ga tame ōku no toshi o tsumamu to zo omou

English Translation
The firewood cut down
by the woodsmen of the hills
for your sake, I mean
to pile up into many years,
heaped high one upon another
Meaning
This firewood the mountain folk have cut, I mean to stack up for you, as though piling up many years of life.
Commentary
Book Twenty Congratulatory Poems 1380

Headnote: "When the present emperor was in the Umetsubo, having firewood cut and presenting it to him."
The poet says that the firewood cut by the mountain folk is meant to pile up many years for the emperor. Presenting firewood to Emperor Murakami, he lays over the stacking of wood his wish that the emperor's years might likewise pile up in long life.
According to the headnote, it was composed when the present emperor, Emperor Murakami, was in the Umetsubo and the poet had firewood cut and presented to him. The next poem is the emperor's reply, and the two form an exchange.
The poet, "the Grand Minister," is Fujiwara no Tadahira. The fourth son of Fujiwara no Mototsune, he served as Regent, Chancellor and Grand Minister, and was posthumously named Teishinkō. The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu includes his poem "Ogurayama mine no momijiba kokoro araba."

The first line, "Yamabito no," means "of the mountain folk," those who cut wood.
The second line, "koreru takigi wa," means "the firewood they have cut."
The third line, "kimi ga tame," means "for your sake." Here the words placed in the first line of 1375 and 1382 of this book come in the third line.
The fourth line, "ōku no toshi o," means "many years."
The last line, "tsumamu to zo omou," means "I mean to pile them up," laying the piling of years over the stacking of wood. "Zo" is closed by the attributive "omou." It is taken up by "tsumamu" in the second line of the next poem.
Author
Fujiwara no Tadahira
Source
Gosen Wakashu
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