君が代は白雲かかる筑波嶺の
峰の続きの海となるまで
峰の続きの海となるまで
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi ga yo wa shirakumo kakaru Tsukubane no mine no tsuzuki no umi to naru made
- English Translation
-
May my lord's reign last
till Tsukuba's lofty peak
where white clouds hang
and all its ridges joined to it
have turned into the sea
- Meaning
- May my lord's reign endure until the ridges that run on from Tsukuba's peak, where white clouds hang, have turned into the sea.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Celebration Poems 164
Calling on an all but impossible change in heaven and earth, towering ridges becoming sea, the poem wishes the reign to last without end.
Like the Kokinshū celebration poem "My lord, for a thousand, for eight thousand ages," which waits for a pebble to grow into a boulder, it expresses an endless reign through a dizzying span of time, but here the change runs the other way, high mountains sinking into the sea. Ending on "until" and leaving the wish itself unspoken adds a lingering resonance.
First line, "May my lord's reign," begins with the same words as the book's opening poem, 161, raising the object of celebration head on.
Second line, "where white clouds hang," shows how high the mountain rises, with white clouds resting on its peak.
Third line, "Tsukuba's lofty peak," names Mount Tsukuba, a poetic place of Hitachi long known for its song gatherings.
Fourth line, "all its ridges joined to it," means the ranges that run on from Tsukuba's peak; the repeated no lends the words a weighty, piled-up rhythm.
Fifth line, "have turned into the sea," is hyperbole, until the ridges become ocean. A wish such as "may it last" is left unsaid below, so the poem closes with lingering resonance.
- Author
- Nōin
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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