蒲生野のたまのを山に住む鶴の
千年は君が御代の数なり
千年は君が御代の数なり
- Roma-ji
-
Gamōno no tamanoo yama ni sumu tsuru no chitose wa kimi ga miyo no kazu nari
- English Translation
-
On Gamō's moorland,
upon the Mount of Life's Thread,
the cranes that dwell there—
their thousand years are the count
of the ages of your reign.
- Meaning
- The thousand years of the cranes that dwell on the Mount of Tama-no-o on Gamō Moor are the very count of the years of my lord's reign.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Celebration Poems 265
Headnote: "A poem for the Great Thanksgiving Festival in the Ninna era"
The poem celebrates the thousand-year life of the cranes dwelling on Mount Tama-no-o on Gamō Moor as the very measure of the emperor's reign. Onto the crane, emblem of long life, it lays the meaning of the mountain's name, "tama no o," the thread of life, and blesses the long continuance of the reign. According to the headnote, it is a poem for the Great Thanksgiving Festival in the Ninna era of Emperor Kōkō. Poems for this festival customarily wove in place names from the provinces chosen for the occasion, and this one names Gamō Moor in Ōmi.
First line, "gamōno no," means "of Gamō Moor" in Ōmi.
Second line, "tamanoo yama ni," plays the mountain's name against "tama no o," the thread of life. From the name of the mountain it leads to the crane's thousand years.
Third line, "sumu tsuru no," means "of the cranes that dwell there," the crane being a bird thought to live a thousand years. Cranes also appear in 284 and 298 of this book.
Fourth line, "chitose wa kimi ga," means "their thousand years are my lord's."
Final line, "miyo no kazu nari," means "are the number of years of the reign," declaring the crane's span to be the very length of the reign.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Chihayaburu hirano no matsu no eda shigemi chiyo mo yachiyo mo iro wa kawaraji
- Next Poem
-
Asa madaki kiryū no oka ni tatsu kiji wa chiyo no hitsugi no hajime narikeri