Shirakumo ni hane uchitsukete tobu tazu no haruka ni chiyo no omoyuru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

白雲に羽うち付けて飛ぶ鶴の
遥かに千代の思ほゆるかな

Roma-ji: Shirakumo ni hane uchitsukete tobu tazu no haruka ni chiyo no omoyuru kana
English Translation: Like the crane that flies
beating its wings against
the white clouds on high,
far into the distance I
feel the thousand ages stretch
Meaning: Watching the crane fly so high that its wings beat against the white clouds, I feel the thousand ages of the reign stretching far into the distance.
Commentary: Book Ten Poems of Celebration 624

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of celebration when the courtiers presented hundred-poem sequences"
Composed by the emperor himself on the theme of celebration when the courtiers presented hundred-poem sequences. Like the crane flying with its wings beating against the white clouds, he says, the thousand ages are felt far into the distance. In the sight of the crane, believed to live a thousand years, flying at the height of the white clouds, he overlays the distance of the sky and the distance of a thousand ages, celebrating the endurance of the reign. Its opening recalls the Kokinshū poem that begins "Shirakumo ni hane uchikawashi tobu kari no."
The author, "Retired Emperor Nijō," was the first son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa and the seventy-eighth emperor. He loved poetry and often held poetry gatherings at the palace during his reign, but died at the age of twenty-three.
The preceding poem, 623, celebrated the beginning of Emperor Nijō's reign. Poems 627 and 631 of this book also sing of cranes, so that poems of celebration through the long-lived bird follow one another.

First line, "shirakumo ni": "against the white clouds" floating high in the sky.
Second line, "hane uchitsukete": "beating its wings," describing the crane flying so high as to reach the clouds.
Third line, "tobu tazu no": the crane was believed to live a thousand years. The first three lines are the scene of the crane flying high, leading to "haruka ni" in the fourth line. It shares the crane with "kagiranu tazu no" in the second line of 627.
Fourth line, "haruka ni chiyo no": "the thousand ages far ahead," overlaying the distance of the sky where the crane flies and the distance of the years.
Fifth line, "omoyuru kana": "omoyuru" is the attributive of "omoyu," "to come naturally to mind." "Kana" is an exclamatory final particle.
Author: Retired Emperor Nijō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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