松島の磯に群れゐる葦鶴の
おのがさまざま見えし千代かな
おのがさまざま見えし千代かな
- Roma-ji
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Matsushima no iso ni mureiru ashitazu no ono ga samazama mieshi chiyo kana
- English Translation
-
On Matsushima's
rocky shore, gathered in flocks,
cranes among the reeds,
each in its own varied way,
showed a thousand ages
- Meaning
- The cranes among the reeds, flocking on the rocky shore of Matsushima, each displayed in its own way a life of a thousand ages.
- Commentary
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Book Five Celebration Poems 167
Picturing cranes flocking on the shore of Matsushima, a poetic place of Michinoku, the poem celebrates long life by saying that each bird, in its own form, shows a thousand years of age.
Matsushima, whose name contains matsu, the pine, and the crane, the bird of a thousand years, form a doubled emblem of longevity, and the very number of the flock becomes the abundance of a thousand ages. Blessing is set within a scene as vivid as a painting.
First line, "On Matsushima's," names a poetic place of Michinoku whose name contains the longevity symbol matsu. Like the Abukuma River in the opening poem, 161, it is a Michinoku place name, a distant famous site chosen as a scene of celebration.
Second line, "rocky shore, gathered in flocks," depicts the cranes gathered and resting on the shore.
Third line, "cranes among the reeds," uses ashitazu, a poetic word for cranes. Against the chick of 162, "this young crane chick," here grown cranes appear in a flock.
Fourth line, "each in its own varied way," says that every crane takes its own form.
Fifth line, "showed a thousand ages," modifies chiyo with shi, the attributive of the past ki, and closes with the exclamatory kana. Chiyo is shared with 162, 163, and 168, a word that carries the theme of the book.
- Author
- Kiyohara no Motosuke
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Akade nomi kaeru to omoeba sakurabana oru beki haru zo tsukisezarikeru
- Next Poem
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Hitotose o kurenu to nani ka oshimu beki tsukisenu chiyo no haru o matsu ni wa