Kokinshu #343

[lnhammer]

Topic unknown.

    My lord, may it be
for a thousand ages,
    eight thousand ages --
until a pebble becomes
a crag overgrown with moss.

—11 March 2011

Original author unknown. Thus begins Book VII, containing poems of felicitations, expressing long life wishes at birthdays and possibly also coronations. Given such public occasions, the genre is very formalized, with an elevated tonal palette and a limited set of acceptable images. Fortunately, it's the second-shortest book of the Kokinshu, so the congratulations to people one doesn't know and don't care about will be relatively brief. This poem does have some extrinsic interest, however: a variant first appearing in a 1013 anthology, with the first line kimi ga yo wa, "[my] lord's life" instead of "my lord," is used as Japan's national anthem. The action that should last eight thousand years/ages is another omitted-but-understood verb, though in the anthem version "live" is more clearly implied -- which may be why it's better known. Eight is a particularly auspicious number, as well as sometimes used as a generically large quantity. That rocks grow instead of erode comes from Chinese folklore and moss is a sign of age and stability.


waga kimi wa
chiyo ni yachiyo ni
sazareishi no
iwao to narite
koke no musu made

---L.