花もみな君が千歳をまつなれば
いづれの春か色も変はらむ
いづれの春か色も変はらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Hana mo mina kimi ga chitose o matsu nareba izure no haru ka iro mo kawaramu
- English Translation
-
The flowers, every one,
await our lord's thousand years
as the pine awaits,
so in what spring could it be
that their color fades
- Meaning
- Since every flower, like the evergreen pine, waits for our lord's thousand years, in what spring could their color ever change?
- Commentary
-
Book Five Celebration Poems 321
Every flower waits for the sovereign's thousand years and stays unchanging like the evergreen pine, so in no spring will its color change, the poem says. With matsu meaning both to wait and pine, it celebrates an everlasting reign by saying that even fickle flowers will not change for its sake.
The preceding poem, 320, and this poem form a pair celebrating the boundless reign through dust and flowers.
The author, Nakamasa, is Minamoto no Nakamasa. A son of Minamoto no Yoritsuna and the father of Minamoto no Yorimasa, he served as governor of a number of provinces.
First line, 'hana mo mina', means every flower too, naming flowers, the emblem of all that changes. It takes up the cherries of poems 308, 309 and 314 in this book.
Second line, 'kimi ga chitose o', means our lord's thousand years, a line also used in poem 326 in this book.
Third line, 'matsu nareba', is a pivot word in which matsu means both to wait and the evergreen pine, left in kana. The same pivot word is used in poem 326 in this book.
Fourth line, 'izure no haru ka', means in what spring, the particle ka binding with the attributive mu in the final line to form a rhetorical question.
Final line, 'iro mo kawaramu', means could their color change, implying it never will.
- Author
- Minamoto no Nakamasa
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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Itsu to naku kaze fuku sora ni tatsu chiri no kazu mo shirarenu kimi ga miyo kana
- Next Poem
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Ika bakari kami mo ureshi to mikasayama futaba no matsu no chiyo no keshiki o