百草に八十草添へて給ひてし
乳房の報い今日ぞ我がする
乳房の報い今日ぞ我がする
- Roma-ji
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Momokusa ni yasokusa soete tamaiteshi chibusa no mukui kyō zo waga suru
- English Translation
-
A hundred kinds and
eighty kinds more besides,
what you gave to me,
for the milk of your breast,
today I make my return.
- Meaning
- For the milk of your breast that you gave me, a hundred kinds and eighty more, today I make my return.
- Commentary
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Book Twenty Lament Poems 1347
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed by Archbishop Gyōki"
The poet says that today he repays the milk of the breast given in a hundred kinds and eighty more. Like the preceding poem, 1346, its headnote marks it as a poem of Gyōki. It is said to sing of repaying, by holding a Buddhist rite, a mother's kindness in nursing him with countless gifts of milk, and it sings of the depth of a parent's kindness and of the heart that repays it through a rite.
The author, Archbishop Gyōki, was a priest of the Nara period. He traveled the provinces building roads and bridges and devoting himself to the relief of the people, and having helped in raising the Great Buddha of Tōdaiji, he became archbishop.
First line, "momokusa ni," means "to a hundred kinds," speaking of a great many.
Second line, "yasokusa soete," means "adding eighty kinds," together with the first line meaning more than can be counted.
Third line, "tamaiteshi," means "that you gave me," with "teshi" perfective and past auxiliaries.
Fourth line, "chibusa no mukui," means "the repayment for the breast," the kindness of nursing him. It shares a mother's breast with the second line of 1294 in this book, "mune no chibusa o."
Final line, "kyō zo waga suru," means "today I make it," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by the attributive "suru."
- Author
- Gyōki
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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