君が代は天の香具山出づる日の
照らむ限りは尽きじとぞ思ふ
照らむ限りは尽きじとぞ思ふ
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi ga yo wa Ama no Kaguyama izuru hi no teramu kagiri wa tsukiji to zo omou
- English Translation
-
My lord's reign, I think,
shall never come to an end
so long as the sun
rising over heavenly
Kagu Mountain sheds its light
- Meaning
- I believe my lord's reign will never come to an end, so long as the sun that rises over heavenly Mount Kagu continues to shine.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Poems of Celebration 609
Headnote: "Composed on the theme of celebration"
Composed on the theme of celebration. My lord's reign, he says, shall not end as long as the sun rising over heavenly Mount Kagu shines. Invoking Mount Kagu, famed in the tales of the age of the gods, and the sun that rises over it, the poem celebrates on a grand scale a reign that will last as long as heaven and earth.
The author, "the Ōmiya Former Chancellor," is Fujiwara no Koremichi. The son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Munemichi, he rose to Chancellor and was called the Kujō Chancellor and the Ōmiya Chancellor.
First line, "kimi ga yo wa": "my lord's reign," a frequent opening for poems of celebration. It echoes "kimi ga yo ni" in 633 and "kimi ga yo no" in 637 of this book.
Second line, "Ama no Kaguyama": Mount Kagu in Yamato, given the epithet "of heaven" from the tradition that it descended from the sky. It is one of the Three Mountains of Yamato.
Third line, "izuru hi no": "the rising sun."
Fourth line, "teramu kagiri wa": "mu" is the attributive of the conjectural, "as long as it shines." The length of the reign is measured by the endless shining of the sun.
Fifth line, "tsukiji to zo omou": "ji" is the negative conjectural, "it will not end." The emphatic "zo" closes with the attributive "omou."
- Author
- Fujiwara no Koremichi
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Waga tomo to kimi ga mikaki no kuretake wa chiyo ni ikuyo no kage o souran
- Next Poem
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Kimi ga tame Mitarashigawa o wakamizu ni musubu ya chiyo no hajime naruran