kuraiyama kodakaku naran matsu ni nomi yaoyorozuyo to harukaze zo fuku
On Mount Kurai[i] Tall will become the pines trees ‘Simply wait Eight million ages,’ whispers The gusting breeze of spring!
662
[i] Mount Kurai (kuraiyama 位山), lies in what is now northern Gifu prefecture, and is one of the peaks in the Hida Mountains (hida sanmyaku 飛騨山脈), also known as the Northern Alps, stretching through north central Honshu. Its use here, however, is purely because kurai 位, was homophonous with the word for ‘court rank’. As matsu 松 (‘pine tree’) was also homophonous with matsu 待つ (‘wait’), the poem is a dual play on words
yukusue no chitose o komete harugasumi tatsuta no yama ni matsukaze zo fuku
The future for A thousand years contained within The haze of spring: On the mount of Tatsuta The wind blows through the pines![i]
661
[i] See: Topic unknown. ゆかむ人こん人しのべ春がすみたつたの山のはつさくら花 yukamu hito / kon hito shinobi / harugasumi / tatsuta no yama no / hatsu sakurabana ‘Folk who go / And those who come, secretly do dwell upon / The haze of spring / Over Mount Tatsuta’s / First flowering cherry blossoms.’ Middle Counsellor Yakamochi (Shinkokinshū I: 85)
harusame wa itaku na furi so tabibito no michiyuki goromo nure mo koso sure
O, rains of spring Don’t fall so hard! For this traveller’s Roadside robes Will surely end up drenched![i]
595
[i] See: Topic unknown. 春雨はいたくなふりそ桜花まだみぬ人にちらまくもをし harusame wa / itaku na furi so / sakurabana / mada minu hito ni / chiramaku mo oshi ‘O, spring rains, / Fall not so hard! / The cherry blossom / Is yet unseen by folk who / Would regret its scattering’ Akahito (Shinkokinshū II: 110)
