苗代の水はいなゐにまかせたり
民安げなる君が御代かな
民安げなる君が御代かな
- Roma-ji
-
Nawashiro no mizu wa inai ni makasetari tami yasuge naru kimi ga miyo kana
- English Translation
-
For the seedling beds
the water from Inai
is drawn and entrusted:
how peaceful are the people
in the reign of our lord
- Meaning
- The water for the seedling beds is drawn from Inai and left to flow as it will; how peaceful the people are in our lord's reign.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Celebration Poems 319
The water for the seedling beds is drawn from Inai and left to flow freely, and the people live in peace, the poem says in praise of the sovereign's reign. Through the ease of farm villages untroubled for water, it extols a well-ordered reign.
Using makasu for both drawing in water and entrusting is the same as in poem 306 in this book.
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, 'nawashiro no', means of the beds where rice seedlings are raised.
Second line, 'mizu wa inai ni', means the water from Inai, inai seeming to be a place name, the place from which the water for the beds is drawn.
Third line, 'makasetari', is a pivot word in which makase means both to draw water in and to entrust, left in kana. It is the same pivot word as 'makasetarubeshi' in poem 306 in this book. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'tami yasuge naru', means the people at peace.
Final line, 'kimi ga miyo kana', means the reign of our lord, with the exclamatory kana. The next poem, 320, closes with the same line.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Mitsugimono hakobu yohoro o kazoureba nima no satobito kazu soinikeri
- Next Poem
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Itsu to naku kaze fuku sora ni tatsu chiri no kazu mo shirarenu kimi ga miyo kana