Hisakata no ame no yaegumo furiwakete kudarishi kimi o ware zo mukaeshi - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

久方の天の八重雲ふり分けて
下りし君を我ぞ迎へし

Roma-ji: Hisakata no ame no yaegumo furiwakete kudarishi kimi o ware zo mukaeshi
English Translation: From the far heavens,
parting the eightfold clouds
as you made your way,
you came down—and it was I,
I alone, who welcomed you.
Meaning: You who came down from heaven, parting the clouds piled eightfold high—it was I who went out to welcome you.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1866

Headnote: "Sarutahiko."
This is the second poem in the sequence composed at the Nihongi banquet. Speaking as Sarutahiko, the poet says it was he who welcomed the one who came down parting the eightfold clouds of heaven. The headnote gives only the topic, "Sarutahiko"; like the preceding poem, it was composed at the Nihongi banquet. It is voiced as the proud self-announcement of the god who greeted the descent of the Heavenly Grandson.
The author, Ki no Yoshimochi, was a Confucian scholar of the early Heian period and a son of Ki no Haseo. He is known as the writer of the Chinese preface to the Kokin Wakashū.
Sarutahiko is the god who, according to the Nihon Shoki, met the Heavenly Grandson Ninigi at the heavenly crossroads as he descended and guided him on his way.

The first line, "hisakata no," is a pillow word for "ame," "heaven."
The second line, "ame no yaegumo," means the clouds piled eightfold in heaven. Where the preceding poem told of a goddess coming from the sea, this one tells of a god descending from heaven, and the arrivals from sea and sky form a pair.
The third line, "furiwakete," means "parting them."
In the fourth line, "kudarishi kimi o," "kimi" is Ninigi, who descended from heaven. The attributive "shi" of the past auxiliary "ki" tells it as an event of the age of the gods.
The last line, "ware zo mukaeshi," closes the particle "zo" with "shi," the attributive of the past "ki," in kakari-musubi. Taking the voice of Sarutahiko, the topic, the poet names himself "ware" and proudly declares his role as the one who welcomed the god.
Author: Ki no Yoshimochi
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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