一節に千代をこめたる杖なれば
つくともつきじ君が齢は
つくともつきじ君が齢は
- Roma-ji
-
Hitofushi ni chiyo o kometaru tsue nareba tsuku tomo tsukiji kimi ga yowai wa
- English Translation
-
Since this staff holds
a thousand ages sealed within
each single joint,
however much you lean on it,
your years will never be spent.
- Meaning
- Since this is a staff with a thousand ages sealed in each joint, however often you lean on it, your years will never run out.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Celebration Poems 276
Headnote: "At the same celebration, when a bamboo staff had been made"
Because a thousand ages are sealed in each joint of the bamboo staff, the poet says, however often one leans on it, the honoree's years will never run out. Playing on "tsuku," to lean on a staff, and "tsuku," to be used up, the poem celebrates long life with wit. According to the headnote, it was composed when a bamboo staff was made as a gift for the same celebration for the Empress in the fourth year of Jōhei.
Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto was of the Ōnakatomi family, who served as chief priests of the Ise Shrine, and he himself held that office. He was the father of Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "hitofushi ni," means "in a single joint" of bamboo.
Second line, "chiyo o kometaru," means "sealing in a thousand ages."
Third line, "tsue nareba," means "since it is a staff." 280 and 281 in this book are also celebration poems on bamboo staffs.
Fourth line, "tsuku tomo tsukiji," plays on "tsuku" as leaning on a staff and as running out, meaning "however you lean on it, it will not be spent," with "ji" an auxiliary of negative conjecture.
Final line, "kimi ga yowai wa," means "your years," the subject placed last by inversion.
- Author
- Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Iro kaenu matsu to take to no sue no yo o izure hisashi to kimi nomi zo min
- Next Poem
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Kimi ga yo o nani ni tatoen sazareishi no iwao to naran hodo mo akaneba