宮柱下つ岩根に敷き立てて
露も曇らぬ日の御影かな
露も曇らぬ日の御影かな
- Roma-ji
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Miyabashira shitatsu iwane ni shikitatete tsuyu mo kumoranu hi no mikage kana
- English Translation
-
The shrine's great pillars
on the bedrock deep below
firmly set in place—
not a dewdrop's worth of cloud
dims the sacred light of sun.
- Meaning
- With the shrine's pillars set firm upon the bedrock deep below, how the sun's sacred light shines, without a trace of cloud.
- Commentary
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Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1877
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the seventh poem in the sequence concerning the Great Shrine of Ise. On the shrine whose pillars are set firmly on the bedrock deep below, the sun's light shines without the least cloud. The headnote says only "Topic unknown," and no circumstances are recorded. Looking up to Amaterasu as the light of the sun, it praises the unclouded grace of the god.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," was a poet-monk whose lay name was Satō Norikiyo. He was a guard of the Northern Quarter under Retired Emperor Toba, but took the tonsure young and traveled the provinces composing poetry.
The first three lines draw on the set phrase for shrine-building found in the Great Purification Prayer: "shitatsu iwane ni miyabashira futoshikitate" ("setting the shrine pillars stout upon the bedrock below").
The first line, "miyabashira," means the pillars of the shrine.
The second line, "shitatsu iwane ni," means "upon the bedrock deep below"; "tsu" is an old case particle meaning "no," "of."
The third line, "shikitatete," means "setting them firmly." Borrowing the language of the Great Purification Prayer, it shows an unshakable shrine.
In the fourth line, "tsuyu mo kumoranu," "tsuyu mo" means "not in the least."
The last line, "hi no mikage kana," means "such is the sacred light of the sun," closing with the exclamatory particle "kana" in praise of Amaterasu's light. Following the preceding poem's restraint, which found it too awesome even to speak of looking up to the god, this poem looks up and praises the unclouded light of the sun.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kamikaze ya toyomitegura ni nabiku shide kakete aogu to iu mo kashikoshi
- Next Poem
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Kamijiyama tsuki sayaka naru chikai arite ame no shita o ba terasu narikeri