Mezurashiki chiyo no hajime no ne no hi ni wa matsu kyō o koso hiku bekarikere - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

めづらしき千代の始めの子の日には
まつ今日をこそ引くべかりけれ

Roma-ji: Mezurashiki chiyo no hajime no ne no hi ni wa matsu kyō o koso hiku bekarikere
English Translation: On this rare, fine day,
the Day of the Rat that begins
a thousand ages,
it is today itself, like a pine,
that we should first pull to us.
Meaning: On this rare and auspicious Day of the Rat that begins a thousand ages, it is today itself that we should first draw to us, as one pulls up a pine.
Commentary: Book Five Celebration Poems 289

Headnote: "In the third year of Kōhō, when the Day of the Rat was celebrated at the palace and the courtiers of the Privy Chamber presented waka"
On the Day of the Rat that begins a thousand ages, the poet says, rather than pulling up young pines one should first draw in this very day. Playing on "mazu" (first) and "matsu" (pine) in the custom of pulling young pines on the Day of the Rat, he expresses the wish to draw out this auspicious day for long. According to the headnote, it was composed in the third year of Kōhō (966), when Emperor Murakami held a Day of the Rat outing at the palace and the courtiers of the Privy Chamber presented waka.
The author, written as Fujiwara no Nobukata, appears to have been an official of the mid-Heian period, but little is known of his life.

First line, "mezurashiki," means "rare and auspicious."
Second line, "chiyo no hajime no," means "of the beginning of a thousand ages." Like "the beginning of ten thousand ages" in 263 at the head of this book and "the beginning of the line of succession through a thousand ages" in 266, it celebrates the start of a long reign.
Third line, "ne no hi ni wa," means "on the first Day of the Rat" of the New Year, when people went out to the fields to pull up young pines and pray for long life.
Fourth line, "matsu kyō o koso," plays on "mazu" (first of all) and "matsu," the pine pulled on the Day of the Rat, emphasized by the particle "koso."
Final line, "hiku bekarikere," means "we should have pulled," with "koso" resolved by the perfective "kere." The next poem, 290, also says it will "pull" the pine of the Day of the Rat.
Author: Fujiwara no Nobukata
Source: Shui Wakashu
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