Inishie mo nobori ya shiken Yoshinoyama yama yori takaki yowai naru hito - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いにしへも登りやしけん吉野山
山より高き齢なる人

Roma-ji: Inishie mo nobori ya shiken Yoshinoyama yama yori takaki yowai naru hito
English Translation: Did any, long ago,
climb this mountain, I wonder,
Yoshino's peak, one
whose great age stood even higher
than the mountain he climbed?
Meaning: Did anyone in the old days also climb Mount Yoshino, I wonder, a person whose years stood higher even than the mountain?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems II 563

Headnote: "On making a pilgrimage to the Mitake when he was old"
The poet wonders whether anyone of old, whose years were higher than the mountain, ever climbed Mount Yoshino. The headnote shows it was written when he made a pilgrimage to Kinpusen in Yoshino in his old age. Layering the height of the mountain over the height of his years, he sings of himself, who has climbed the steep mountain in old age, with both pride and playfulness.
The author, written as "Motosuke," is Kiyohara no Motosuke. The father of Sei Shōnagon, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "inishie mo," means "in the old days too."
Second line, "nobori ya shiken," means "did anyone climb," with the binding particle "ya" resolved by "ken," the attributive form of the auxiliary of past conjecture. The poem breaks after this second line.
Third line, "Yoshinoyama," is Mount Yoshino in Yamato, where the Mitake, Kinpusen, of the headnote stands.
Fourth line, "yama yori takaki," means "higher than the mountain," repeating "yama" from "Yoshinoyama" in the third line, laying the height of the mountain over the height of age.
Final line, "yowai naru hito," means "a person of such age," ending on a noun and giving in inverted order the subject of "nobori" in the second line.
Author: Kiyohara no Motosuke
Source: Shui Wakashu
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