Iso no matsu ikuhisasa ni ka narinuramu itaku kodakaki kaze no oto kana

磯の松幾久さにかなりぬらむ
いたく木高き風の音かな

Roma-ji: Iso no matsu ikuhisasa ni ka narinuramu itaku kodakaki kaze no oto kana
English Translation: The pine on the shore—
how many long years have passed
to bring it to this?
How high among the treetops
sounds the voice of the wind.
Meaning: How long, I wonder, has this pine on the shore stood there? How high up in its branches the wind is sounding.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 691

Headnote: "Composed on the way to a place called Misaki, on seeing a pine by the shore grown old with the years"
On the road to Misaki in Miura, the poet saw an aged pine by the shore and wondered how many years it had passed, sensing its age in the wind sounding high in its branches. Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a sign of praise.
It was included in the imperial anthology Gyokuyō Wakashū. Mabuchi notes that ikuhisasa in line 2 shortens iku hisashisa. One letter of line 4 is hard to read in the source as displayed and is here read itaku kodakaki.

Line 1 means "the pine on the shore."
Line 2 means "to how long an age?" ka concluded by ramu in line 3.
Line 3 means "has it come," with a break after the line.
Line 4 means "very tall."
Line 5 means "the sound of the wind," kana exclamatory; from the pine of the moor in the preceding poem it moves to the pine of the shore.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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