Futaba yori tanomoshiki kana kasugayama kodakaki matsu no tane zo to omoeba - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

二葉より頼もしきかな春日山
木高き松の種ぞと思へば

Roma-ji: Futaba yori tanomoshiki kana kasugayama kodakaki matsu no tane zo to omoeba
English Translation: From its two first leaves
how full of promise it is,
for on Kasuga's hill,
I think, it is the seed of
the pine that towers so tall.
Meaning: How promising it is even from its first two leaves, for I think of it as the seed of the towering pines of Kasugayama.
Commentary: Book Five Celebration Poems 267

Headnote: "On visiting a lying-in chamber of the Fujiwara family"
The poet likens a child born into the Fujiwara family to the seed of the towering pines of Kasugayama and celebrates it as promising even from its first two leaves. Kasugayama is the mountain of the Kasuga Shrine, tutelary shrine of the Fujiwara, and against the background of the clan's prosperity the poem foretells the child's future rise. According to the headnote, it was composed on visiting a lying-in chamber of the Fujiwara family.
The author, written as Yoshinobu, is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu. From the Ōnakatomi family, who served as chief priests of the Ise Shrine, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū and in reading the Man'yōshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "futaba yori," means "from its first two leaves," likening the newborn to a seedling.
Second line, "tanomoshiki kana," means "how promising," with "kana" exclamatory. The poem pauses here, and by inversion the reason is given afterward.
Third line, "kasugayama," is Mount Kasuga in Yamato, the mountain behind the Kasuga Shrine, tutelary shrine of the Fujiwara.
Fourth line, "kodakaki matsu no," means "of the towering pines," a figure for the prosperity of the Fujiwara. Following "the pines of Hirano" in 264 of this book, poems celebrating long life through the pine stand together.
Final line, "tane zo to omoeba," means "since I think it is the seed," the perfective form with "ba" expressing a reason. After the pheasant figure of the preceding poem, poems for birth celebrations continue.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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