Kasugayama matsu ni tanomi o kakuru kana fuji no sueba no kazu naranedomo - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春日山松に頼みをかくるかな
藤の末葉の数ならねども

Roma-ji: Kasugayama matsu ni tanomi o kakuru kana fuji no sueba no kazu naranedomo
English Translation: On Kasuga's hill
upon the pines I hang
all of my hopes,
though a leaf at the wisteria's tip
I am of no account at all
Meaning: On the pines of Kasuga Mountain I hang all my hopes, though I am but a trailing leaf at the tip of the wisteria, of no account at all.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1077

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of expressing my grievances when I presented fifteen poems in the reign of Emperor Sutoku"
This poem was composed on the theme of grievances when he presented fifteen poems in the reign of Emperor Sutoku. On the pines of Kasuga Mountain I hang my hopes, though I am but a leaf at the wisteria's tip, of no account, he says. Kasuga Mountain belonged to the Kasuga Shrine, the tutelary shrine of the Fujiwara, and like wisteria twining around a pine, he too, a far offshoot of the Fujiwara, hangs his hopes on the protection of the Kasuga god. Belittling himself as one of no account, he still clings to the guardian god of his clan and prays for his future.
The author, "Right Military Guards Commander Kinyuki," is Fujiwara no Kinyuki. A son of Chancellor Fujiwara no Saneyuki, he served as commander of the right military guards.
Like the preceding poem, 1076, it is a poem of grievance expressing hopes for advancement. And like 1079, 1083 and 1096 of this book, it belittles the poet as "of no account."

First line, "Kasugayama": a famous place in Yamato Province, the mountain behind the Kasuga Shrine, tutelary shrine of the Fujiwara.
Second line, "matsu ni tanomi o": "my hopes on the pine," hanging his hopes on the Kasuga god as wisteria hangs on a pine.
Third line, "kakuru kana": "I hang them," echoing the wisteria hanging on the pine. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "fuji no sueba no": "the leaves at the wisteria's tip," a figure for himself as a far offshoot of the Fujiwara.
Fifth line, "kazu naranedomo": "though I am of no account." Through inversion it returns to the third line. It shares words of self-abasement with "kazu narade" in the first lines of 1079 and 1096 and "kazu naranu" in the first line of 1083 of this book.
Author: Fujiwara no Kinyuki
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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