The Tsubo no Ishibumi壺の碑
1The sedge of Tofu
かの畫づに任せてたどり行けばおくの細道の山際にとふの菅あり今も年々十符のすげごもを調へて國守に獻ずといへり 壺碑市川村多賀城
Trusting to the painter's map I made my way on, and at the foot of the hills along the Oku no Hosomichi there is the sedge of Tofu. Even now, they say, every year they make mats of ten-fold sedge and present them to the governor of the province.
The Tsubo no Ishibumi — at Ichikawa village, Taga Castle.
2The Tsubo no Ishibumi — a memorial of a thousand years
つぼのいしふみは高六尺餘橫三尺ばかりか苔をうがちて文字幽也四維國界の數里をしるす御城神龜元年按察使鎭守府將軍大野朝臣東人之所里也天平寶字六年參議東海東山節度使同將軍惠美朝臣獦修造而十二月朔日と有り聖武皇帝の御時にあたれり
The Tsubo no Ishibumi is something over six feet high and about three feet wide. When the moss was scraped away the letters were faint. It records the distances to the borders of the province on its four sides.
"This castle was set here in the first year of Jinki by the inspector and general of the Chinjufu, Ōno no Ason Azumahito. In the sixth year of Tenpyō-hōji it was repaired by the councillor, military commissioner of the Tōkai and Tōsan circuits and general as before, Emi no Ason Asakari. The first day of the twelfth month." This falls in the reign of Emperor Shōmu.
Interlinear notes 3
一本か字ナシ
Another text does not have the character 「か」.
一本城ハトアリ
Another text has 「城ハ」.
一本皇ノ字ナシ
Another text does not have the character 「皇」.
3The old traces are seldom sure
むかしよりよみ置るうた枕多く語りつたふといへども山崩れ川流て道改り石は埋りて土にかくれ木は老て若木にかはれば時うつり代變じて其跡たしかならぬ事のみをこゝに至て疑なき千歲の記念今眼前に古人の心を閱す行脚の一德存命の悅び羇旅の勞れをわすれてなみだもおつるばかり也
Many utamakura, the places sung in poems from long ago, have been handed down in talk, but mountains crumble and rivers shift and roads change, stones are buried and hidden in the earth, trees grow old and give way to young ones. Times move on and ages change, and their traces are nothing that can be trusted.
Yet here, beyond all doubt, was a memorial of a thousand years before my very eyes, and I looked into the heart of the men of old. This is one virtue of the pilgrim's road, one joy of being alive. I forgot the weariness of the journey, and the tears all but fell.