TOMO NO YAKAMOCHI: TO DIE BY OUR
SOVEREIGN’S SIDE
TOMO NO YAKAMOCHI: THE TOMO WERE AN early hereditary military clan, even though some of their more prominent members are known to us almost exclusively as poets.
Yakamochi (716?-785), the last shining star in the declining years of the distinguished clan, is a prime example. We now think
of him as a major poet of the earliest periods and as a probable editor of the great poetic anthology, Man’y
Shu (Collection of Ten Thousand Leaves), which was compiled in the second half of the eighth century. Yet true to his clan’s
hereditary role he held a round of military posts, culminating in a position called jisetsu seit shgun, which may be given as “commander-in-chief-at-large to subjugate the East.” The clan’s normal duty was guarding the gates
of the Imperial Palace.
Like most of the other poets in the Man’y Shu, Yakamochi writes lyrics. But, perhaps because he has the greatest number of poems preserved in the anthology, his poetry
shows a range and variety rare in others. One unusual poem (no. 4049) expresses the tomo clan’s resolve to remain loyal to
the throne. The occasion for its composition was the imperial proclamation, made public on the first day of the fourth month,
749, that gold had been found for the first time in the Japanese domain. The news merited the emperor’s public expression
of gratitude because the Great Buddha of Nara, whose casting had begun two years earlier, required vast quantities of copper
and gold.
What directly led Yakamochi to compose this verse appears to have been not so much the discovery of gold as the citation of
his clan and the closely affiliated Saeki clan, as exemplars of loyalty to the emperor. The proclamation, which was displayed
in front of the giant Buddha under construction, specifically cited one of the tomo’s traditional public vows, which begins
with the phrase, “When seagoing.” Yakamochi incorporated it with two others in his poem with a slight change. This particular
vow, as revised by Yakamochi, was set to music in 1880 to be used as a ceremonial song by the Imperial Japanese Navy.
The poem is written in chka (long-song) form, which repeats the 5-7-syllable pattern three or more times and normally ends, as here, with a 7-syllable
unit; a ch
ka is usually followed, again as here, by one or more envoys in tanka (short-poem) form. Yakamochi’s title for
the poem is: “Celebrating the Imperial Proclamation that Gold has been Found in Michinoku.”
This country of reed plains, of fresh rice stalks,
which descendants of Heaven have ruled
for generations since the Imperial Ancestor,
God’s Prince, came down from Heaven
and ruled it – this country, in its four directions,
that one Imperial Generation after another has governed
has mountains and rivers so wide, so abundant
the products and treasures brought as tributes
are numberless, inexhaustible.
Nonetheless, ever since Our Sovereign
persuaded various people
and began this Auspicious Work,
he had wondered, privately worried,
if there certainly would be gold,
when in the mountain called Oda, in Michinoku,
in the country to the east where roosters crow,
there was gold, the report said.
His Majesty’s mind was now clear.
“With the gods of Heaven and Earth complimenting,
with the spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors assisting,
something that happened in the distant past
has been revealed again to Our Generation,1
showing Our country will prosper,”
thought His Majesty, god as he is.
He makes his countless officers
follow his orders at will,
the old, the women, and the young
to each and everyone’s heart’s content.
This is what especially ennobles him,
what makes us rejoice all the more.
The tomo’s distant ancestor
held an office serving the Emperor
bearing the title called Chief kume.
“When seagoing, we might become watery corpses,
mountain-going, corpses for grasses to grow from.
Our wish is to die by our Sovereign’s side
with no looking back.” This vow made,
our ancestors have passed from ancient days
to us children of the present
their manly, unsullied name.
The tomo and Saeki clans
hold an office with a vow passed down,
a vow their ancestors made,
that we their children, following our Sovereign,
will not let their name die.
“As I hold a catalpa bow in my hand,
wear a sword and dagger on my hip,
stand guard in the morning,
stand guard in the evening,
guarding our Sovereign’s imperial gates,
I can be bested by no one,”
we vow again and double our resolve,
hearing the praise in our Sovereign’s word,
so ennobling.
Envoys
I think of a man’s mind, hearing the praise in our Sovereign’s word, so ennobling
Place a clear marker on the grave of the tomo’s distant ancestor, so the people may know
So His Majesty’s generation may prosper, on a Michinoku mountain to the east, gold has bloomed