A poem about Yoshino

When I first arrived in Yoshino, I was given a book called 「よしのよく見よ」"Take a Good Look at Yoshino". It is a picture book about Yoshino, featuring poems and stories about the town. It urges the reader to say the poems out loud, so that the town's children may become more familiar with their home's rich history and poetic landscapes.

The title of the book is based off a poem about Yoshino found in the Ma'nyoshu, Japan's oldest existing anthology of Japanese poetry. It was supposedly composed by the Emperor Tenmu during a visit to Yoshino. The poem is introduced with a bit of prose:

On Mimiga Peak
In beautiful Yoshino
Without stopping,
The snow falls. 
Without ceasing, 
The rain falls. 
Just as the snow
Never seems to stop,
Just as the rain 
Never seems to cease,
So too was I lost in thought
About the mountain road
Along every turn of the way

Original:

み吉野の

耳我(みみが)の嶺（みね）に

時なくぞ

雪は降りける。

間なくぞ、        

雨は降りける。

その雪の            

時なきがごと、

その雨の            

時なきがごとく、

隈（くま）も落ちず            

思ひつつぞ来し、

その山道を            

The poem then follows:

As men of virtue

Once said － "Look well, look with luck

Upon Yoshino",
We too, of virtuous future,

Must behold good Yoshino

Original:

よき人の

よしとよくみて

よしといいし

吉野よく見よ

よき人よく見

This poem is playful, using the same sounds よし and よき multiple times. It was rather difficult to translate precisely because of this. I took them to mean good, virtue, and luck, as perhaps the author wrote this piece about Yoshino in praise of it's goodness.

Sources:

「よしのよく見よ」上野誠  "Take a Good Look at Yoshino" Makoto Ueno

「宮瀧」宮瀧遺跡顕彰会 ""Miyataki" Miyataki Historic Ruins Honor Display Society