Classical: On the subject of a sentence with 連用形/て clauses + ば condicional


I'm having some trouble with this beautiful passage from the _Kana Preface_ to
the _Kokinshū_ , which is talking about us (spaced for clarity):

> 1 人まろ なくなりにたれど、  
>  2 うたの こと ゝどまれるかな。  
>  3. たとひ とき うつり こと さり、  
>  4. たのしび かなしび ゆきかふとも、  
>  5. この うたの もじ あるをや。  
>  **6. あをやぎの いと たえず、  
>  7. まつの はの ちりうせず して、  
>  8. まさきのかづら ながく つたはり、  
>  9. とりのあと ひさしく とどまれらば、**  
>  10. うたの さまを（も） しり、  
>  11. ことの こゝろを えたらむ人は、  
>  12. おほぞらの 月を みるがごとくに、  
>  13. いにしへを あふぎて いまを こひざらめかも。

The Iwanami and Shogakukan anotated editions tell us two pieces of cultural
context needed to understand it:

  1. The modifier clauses starting each line in 6-9 are traditional images (序詞) for the things that follow: green willow threads for "not ceasing", pine needles for "not scattering", the [_masaki-no-kazura_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trachelospermum_asiaticum) vine for "reaching long", and bird tracks for "lasting a long time". It may seem strange that bird tracks would be an image for 久しく とどまる, but this is due to the fact that:
  2. 鳥の跡 is [a conventional metaphor](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/161301/m0u/%E9%B3%A5%E3%81%AE%E8%B7%A1/) for "written characters" (due to the legend that Cangjie invented characters by imitating the footprints of plovers). So this particular image also echoes the point of line 5 above.

(grammar note: if とどま **れ** らば seems weird, it's because ら here is the 未然形 of
the perfective/progressive suffix, り.)

Now here's Lamarre's translation:

> Although Hitomaro has gone, the acts of songs have remained. Even though
> eras shift and deeds pass, and delights and sorrows come and go, the
> characters ( _moji_ ) of songs continue. Should **they** be retained **as**
> changeless **as** birdtracks and transmitted **as** long **as** rampant
> vines, **just as** the evergreen needles never scatter and vanish, **just
> as** the threads of green willows always trail, then the people who know the
> designs of songs and obtain the hearts of words surely will look up to the
> high ages and yearn for this day, just as we look to the moon in the great
> heavens. _[emphasis mine]_

A bit liberal in some aspects, and it glosses over the "bird
tracks=characters" motif, but my question is regarding the parts in bold. I
don't see how we came from the morphology and syntax of 6-9 to an
interpretation where:

  * The _moji_ or _uta_ of the previous sentence ("they") is supposed to be the subject of the conditional ( _todomarer **aba**_ ), and
  * The 4 images ( _aoyagi_ , _matsu-no-ha_ , _masaki-no-kazura_ , _tori no ato_ ) are targets for the condition: "if they last as long as the bird tracks"… (and not, as I'd expect from the isolated clause: "if the bird tracks last long"…)

I've checked the modern translations/explanations in Iwanami and Shogakukan,
and also the Portuguese one by Wakisaka, and they all agree on this point;
e.g. Shogakukan:

> **この歌が** 青柳の糸の絶えぬ **ごとく** […]鳥の跡の久しく残る **ことくに** 、長く後世に伝わりますならば […]

But I'm not used to Classical, so I don't understand where are the ごとくs coming
from…

TL;DR: In the first citation above, why does 鳥の跡久しくとどまれらば translate to "if the
poems last as long as the bird tracks" and not just "if the bird tracks last
long"?




I had forgotten to post it, but here's an answer given to me independently by
[Matt Treyvauld](http://no-sword.jp) and by my bungo teacher, Dr Junko Ota
from São Paulo University.

The four images above aren't syntactically connected to anything else; they're
kind of "floating" in the text, as purely evocative illustrations. This effect
may be approximated with modern punctuation:

> Should these characters— _threads of the green willow!_ —never cease, and—
> _needles of the pine!_ —never scatter, and— _vines of the jasmine!_ —reach
> long, and— _tracks of Cangjie's bird!_ —perpetuate unto posterity…

Because the imagistic clauses are free-floating, the verb phrases of lines
6–10 are all modifying the implied subject _kono Uta no Moji_.




I'm not really for the suggested translation, so I'm going to translate it
myself.

  1. Although other people and I will be gone,
  2. the events in the songs will remain.
  3. Even if time shifts and things leave,
  4. (even if) delights and sorrows come and go,
  5. (how could I deny) that the characters of this song will be there
  6. If the threads of green willows never disconnected,
  7. (if) the pine needles never scattered,
  8. (if) the masaki-no-kazura vine reached long,
  9. (if) the birdtracks were retained for long,

10-13. The people who know the designs of songs and obtain the hearts of words
WOULD NOT look up to the high ages as if to look at the moon in the misty sky
and yearn for this day

