笛の音の万代までと聞こえしを
山も答ふる心地せしかな
山も答ふる心地せしかな
- Roma-ji
-
Fue no ne no yorozuyo made to kikoeshi o yama mo kotauru kokochi seshi kana
- English Translation
-
When I heard the sound
of the flute ring out, as if
to ten thousand ages,
I felt as though the mountains
too were answering its call
- Meaning
- When I heard the sound of the emperor's flute ring out as if to say "for ten thousand ages," I felt as though the very mountains were answering it, crying out their own long life to him.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Poems of Celebration 630
Headnote: "Sent to the ladies-in-waiting the next day, after he had gone to the palace in the reign of Emperor Takakura and heard for the first time the emperor play 'Manzairaku' on the flute"
In the reign of Emperor Takakura, the poet went to the palace and heard for the first time the emperor play "Manzairaku" on the flute, and the next day he sent this poem to the ladies-in-waiting. When the sound of the flute rang out "for ten thousand ages," he says, it felt as though the mountains answered too. Playing on the title "Manzairaku," "Music of Ten Thousand Years," he says the flute sounded as if celebrating ten thousand ages and that even the mountains responded, praising both the emperor's playing and the endurance of the reign. It draws on the story that in the time of Emperor Wu of Han a voice crying "ten thousand years" was heard on Mount Song.
The author, "the Minister of the Right," is Fujiwara no Sanesada. The son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Kinyoshi, he was Minister of the Right when this anthology was compiled, later rose to Minister of the Left, and was called the Later Tokudaiji Minister of the Left. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Poem 622 of this book, in which the voice of eight thousand ages is heard from the mountain, draws on the same story.
First line, "fue no ne no": "the sound of the flute" played by Emperor Takakura.
Second line, "yorozuyo made to": weaving in the title "Manzairaku" in softened Japanese form, "for ten thousand ages."
Third line, "kikoeshi o": "shi" is the attributive of the past "ki," "when it was heard."
Fourth line, "yama mo kotauru": "the mountains too answer." Drawing on the story of the voice on Mount Song, it suggests the mountains echoing the flute and crying "ten thousand years." It shares its idea with "yama wa yachiyo no" in the fourth line of 622.
Fifth line, "kokochi seshi kana": "shi" is the attributive of the past "ki" and "kana" an exclamatory final particle, "I felt as though."
- Author
- Fujiwara no Sanesada
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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Yorozuyo mo sumu beki yado ni uetsureba matsu koso kimi ga kage o tanomame
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Murete iru tazu no keshiki ni shiruki kana chitose sumu beki yado no ikemizu