春日山北の藤波咲きしより
栄ゆべしとはかねて知りにき
栄ゆべしとはかねて知りにき
- Roma-ji
-
Kasugayama kita no fujinami sakishi yori sakayu beshi to wa kanete shiriniki
- English Translation
-
On Mount Kasuga,
from the time the northern wisteria
first came into bloom,
that it was bound to flourish
I knew long before it came
- Meaning
- Ever since the wisteria bloomed on the north of Mount Kasuga, I knew well beforehand that it was destined to flourish.
- Commentary
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Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 282
Overlaying the wisteria blooming on the north of Mount Kasuga with the Northern House of the Fujiwara, the poet says he knew from the start that the clan would prosper. Mount Kasuga is the mountain of the Kasuga Shrine, the Fujiwara clan shrine, and the northern wisteria carries a celebration of the Northern House's prosperity.
In the run of blossom poems, wisteria follows cherry and yamabuki, so that the arrangement follows the succession of spring flowers.
The first line, "Kasugayama," names a poetic place in Yamato Province, the mountain of the Kasuga Shrine, the Fujiwara clan shrine.
The second line, "kita no fujinami" (the northern wisteria), refers to wisteria on the north of Mount Kasuga, overlaid with the Northern House of the Fujiwara. Poem 339 of this book also overlays wisteria with the Fujiwara clan, singing of the withering last leaves of a wisteria.
The third line, "sakishi yori," uses the attributive past "shi" and "yori" to mark the starting point: since it bloomed.
The fourth line, "sakayu beshi to wa," uses the conjectural "beshi": that it was bound to flourish.
The final line, "kanete shiriniki," combines the perfective "nu" and past "ki," declaring that he knew beforehand.
- Author
- Minamoto no Moroyori
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Tare ka kono kazu wa sadameshi ware wa tada toe to zo omou yamabuki no hana
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Mimasaka ya Kume no Sarayama to omoedomo Waka no ura to zo iu bekarikeru