Okuyama no yatsuo no tsubaki kimi ga yo ni ikutabi kage o kaen to suran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

奥山の八つ峰の椿君が代に
幾度影を変へんとすらん

Roma-ji: Okuyama no yatsuo no tsubaki kimi ga yo ni ikutabi kage o kaen to suran
English Translation: The camellia on
the eightfold peaks deep within
the far mountains: how
many times will it change its form
in the span of my lord's reign?
Meaning: The camellia growing on the many-layered peaks deep in the mountains: how many times will it change its form within the span of my lord's reign?
Commentary: Book Ten Poems of Celebration 618

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of celebration"
Composed on the theme of celebration. How many times, he asks, will the camellia on the eightfold peaks deep in the mountains change its form within my lord's reign? The Chinese Zhuangzi tells of a great camellia for which eight thousand years were one spring and eight thousand years one autumn, and the camellia became a symbol of long life. Saying that even that camellia will change its form many times within my lord's reign, the poem celebrates a reign without limit.
The author, "Fujiwara no Mototoshi," was the son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Toshiie. Though he did not rise high in rank, he was a pillar of the poetic world, ranked alongside Minamoto no Toshiyori, and was the teacher of Fujiwara no Shunzei, the compiler of this anthology.
Poem 633 of this book, which says that even the needles of the pines of Matsuyama are few compared with my lord's reign, shares the idea of celebrating by declaring that even a symbol of long life falls short of the length of the reign.

First line, "okuyama no": "of the deep mountains," far from human dwellings.
Second line, "yatsuo no tsubaki": "yatsuo" means peaks layered one upon another. "Tsubaki," the camellia, was considered a tree of long life from the story of the great camellia in the Zhuangzi.
Third line, "kimi ga yo ni": "within my lord's reign."
Fourth line, "ikutabi kage o": "kage" means form or appearance, referring to the camellia changing its form as springs and autumns pass.
Fifth line, "kaen to suran": "n" is the volitional "mu" and "ran" the present conjectural "ramu," "how many times will it change its form?"
Author: Fujiwara no Mototoshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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