Tokiwa naru matsu mo ya haru o shirinuramu hatsune o iwau hito ni hikarete - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

常磐なる松もや春を知りぬらむ
初子を祝ふ人に引かれて

Roma-ji: Tokiwa naru matsu mo ya haru o shirinuramu hatsune o iwau hito ni hikarete
English Translation: Has even the pine,
evergreen and never changing,
come to know of spring,
pulled up by those who celebrate
the first Day of the Rat?
Meaning: Has even the evergreen pine, which never changes, come to know that spring is here, now that it has been pulled up by people celebrating the first Day of the Rat?
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems I 12

Headnote: "Composed on the spirit of the Day of the Rat when presenting a hundred-poem sequence"
Composed on the topic "the Day of the Rat" for a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku, this poem draws on the custom of going out to the fields on the first Day of the Rat of the New Year to pull up young pines, roots and all, as a wish for long life. The poet wonders whether even the evergreen pine, which never changes color with the seasons, has learned that spring has come by being pulled from the fields by celebrants.
The author, "Taikenmon'in no Horikawa," was a daughter of Minamoto no Akinaka, head of the Department of Divinities. A lady-in-waiting to Taikenmon'in Fujiwara no Tamako, consort of Emperor Toba, she was one of the leading women poets of the cloistered-rule period. Her younger sister was Jōsaimon'in no Hyōe.

First line, "tokiwa naru": "unchanging," describing the pine's nature of keeping its green in every season.
Second line, "matsu mo ya haru o": the interrogative "ya" links with "ramu" in the third line.
Third line, "shirinuramu": "has it come to know, I wonder," and the poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "hatsune o iwau": "hatsune" is the first Day of the Rat of the New Year, when people pulled young pines and gathered spring greens to pray for long life.
Fifth line, "hito ni hikarete": "pulled up by people" in the custom of the Day of the Rat, an inversion that supplies afterward the reason for the conjecture in the third line.
Author: Taikenmon-in no Horikawa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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