Kimi ga yo ni kurabete iwaba Matsuyama no matsu no hakazu wa sukunakarikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君が代に比べて言はば松山の
松の葉数は少なかりけり

Roma-ji: Kimi ga yo ni kurabete iwaba Matsuyama no matsu no hakazu wa sukunakarikeri
English Translation: If one were to set
them beside your span of years,
the needles on the pines
of Matsuyama would prove
to be very few indeed
Meaning: If one were to set them beside the span of your life, the needles on the pines of Matsuyama would prove to be few indeed.
Commentary: Book Ten Poems of Celebration 633

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of celebration when Toshitsuna Ason went down to his post as Governor of Sanuki"
Composed on the theme of celebration when Tachibana no Toshitsuna went down to his province as Governor of Sanuki. Set beside your years, he says, the needles of the pines of Matsuyama prove few. Exaggerating that even the countless needles of the pines of Matsuyama, a famed place in Sanuki, fall short of the number of years of Toshitsuna's long life, the poem celebrates him as he leaves for his province.
The author, "Fujiwara no Takayoshi," was a poet of the mid to late Heian period who was active in Tachibana no Toshitsuna's circle. Little is known of his career.
Following the preceding poem, 632, this too is a poem of celebration connected with Tachibana no Toshitsuna. It shares with 618 of this book, where even the camellia changes its form many times within my lord's reign, the idea that even symbols of long life fall short of my lord's years.

First line, "kimi ga yo ni": "with my lord's years." It echoes "kimi ga yo wa" in 609 and "kimi ga yo no" in 637 of this book.
Second line, "kurabete iwaba": "if one were to compare," the irrealis with "ba" giving a hypothetical condition.
Third line, "Matsuyama no": Matsuyama is a famed place in Sanuki. Its sound is repeated in "matsu" in the fourth line, giving rhythm.
Fourth line, "matsu no hakazu wa": "the number of the pine needles." The countless needles are compared with the years of a long life.
Fifth line, "sukunakarikeri": "keri" expresses realization, "they prove to be few."
Author: Fujiwara no Takayoshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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