調物運ぶよほろを数ふれば
にまの里人数添ひにけり
にまの里人数添ひにけり
- Roma-ji
-
Mitsugimono hakobu yohoro o kazoureba nima no satobito kazu soinikeri
- English Translation
-
When I count the men
carrying the tribute goods,
I find that the folk
of Nima, Twenty Thousand,
have grown greater in their number
- Meaning
- When I count the laborers carrying the tribute, I find that the people of Nima Village have grown in number.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Celebration Poems 318
Counting the laborers carrying tribute, the poet finds that the people of Nima Village have increased. Through the growing number of the people, the poem celebrates a reign that is prosperous and well ordered.
Nima Village is Nima District in Bitchū. Miyoshi no Kiyoyuki's Opinions in Twelve Articles records that it was named for once having sent twenty thousand soldiers, but that its people later dwindled almost to nothing. This poem says the village's people have grown again, with nima also meaning twenty thousand.
From poem 315 through poem 319 in this book come poems that weave in place names such as Tsuzumi Mountain, Asahi Village, Okoto Village and Nima Village to celebrate a well-ordered reign. Celebrating the reign by weaving in place names is a form often seen in the poems of the Yuki and Suki provinces at the Great Thanksgiving Festival.
First line, 'mitsugimono', means the tribute goods offered to the court.
Second line, 'hakobu yohoro o', means the laborers who carry them.
Third line, 'kazoureba', means when I count, the realis with ba forming a definite condition.
Fourth line, 'nima no satobito', are the people of Nima District in Bitchū, a pivot word in which nima also means twenty thousand, left in kana.
Final line, 'kazu soinikeri', means their number has grown, closing with the exclamatory keri and repeating kazu, number, from 'when I count' in the third line.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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