290Japanese quotation 名言
やまとうたは、人の心を種として、万の言の葉とぞなれりける
やまとうたは、ひとのこころをたねとして、よろずのことのはとぞなれりけるYamato-uta wa, hito no kokoro o tane to shite, yorozu no koto no ha to zo narerikeru
“Japanese poetry has the human heart as its seed, from which grow myriad leaves of words.”
The meaning
Words are born from the heart as leaves from the seed: what is felt naturally seeks to be said. To write, sing, speak truly — is to let grow what is already sown.
At the origin
The opening of the preface to the Kokinshū (905), the first manifesto of Japanese poetry, by Ki no Tsurayuki.
The characters
- やまとうた yamato-utaJapanese poetry
- は watopic marker
- 、
- 人 hitohuman, person
- の
- 心
- を
- 種
- として
- 、
- 万
- の
- 言の葉
- と
- ぞ
- なれりける
はParticleMarks the topic: what the sentence is about — “as for…”.
In practice
What occupies your heart today: give it ten lines, shown to no one.