Kamikaze ya Mimosusogawa no sonokami ni chigirishi koto no sue o tagau na - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

神風や御裳濯川のそのかみに
契りしことの末を違ふな

Roma-ji: Kamikaze ya Mimosusogawa no sonokami ni chigirishi koto no sue o tagau na
English Translation: Divine wind of Ise—
at the Mimosuso River,
far upstream, long ago,
the vow that once was sworn there:
let its end not go astray.
Meaning: O god of the divine wind, do not let the end of the vow made long ago, at the headwaters of the Mimosuso River, go awry.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1871

Headnote: "Composed when, as a Commander of the Guards, he visited the Great Shrine of Ise as imperial envoy."
This is the first poem in the sequence concerning the Great Shrine of Ise. It prays to the god not to let the vow made long ago at the headwaters of the Mimosuso River go astray in later ages. According to the headnote, the author composed it when, as a Commander of the Guards, he visited the Great Shrine of Ise as imperial envoy. Invoking a vow from the age of the gods, he prays for divine protection over his house and the court in times to come.
The author, "Sesshō Daijō Daijin," the Regent and Chancellor, is Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. A son of Kujō Kanezane, he served as Regent and Chancellor, and he wrote the kana preface to the Shin Kokinshū.
The Mimosuso River is another name for the Isuzu River, which flows through the precincts of the Inner Shrine at Ise; the name is said to come from Yamatohime washing the hem of her skirt there.
"The vow that was sworn" is understood to refer to the pledge that Ame-no-Koyane, ancestral god of the Fujiwara, is said to have made with Amaterasu to protect and assist the imperial house.
The third line in the main text reads "sonokami ni," which does not match "sonokami yo" in the reading line. The main text is followed here.

The first line, "kamikaze ya," derives from "kamikaze no," a pillow word for Ise, and is set here to mark the sacred precinct of Ise.
The second line, "Mimosusogawa no," names the Isuzu River flowing through the Inner Shrine, a poetic place of Ise.
In the third line, "sonokami ni," "sonokami" is a pivot word joining "sono kami," "its upper reaches," and "sonokami," "long ago."
The fourth line, "chigirishi koto no," means "of what was vowed long ago."
The last line, "sue o tagau na," means "do not let its end go astray," closing with the prohibitive particle "na." "Sue," "end," also suggests the river's lower reaches, answering "kami," "upper reaches," in the third line as associated words. It shares "chigiri" with "chigiri arite" in the next poem, as poems from the same occasion stand together.
Author: Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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