Kamikaze ya Yamada no hara no sakakiba ni kokoro no shime o kakenu hi zo naki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

神風や山田の原の榊葉に
心のしめをかけぬ日ぞなき

Roma-ji: Kamikaze ya Yamada no hara no sakakiba ni kokoro no shime o kakenu hi zo naki
English Translation: Divine wind of Ise—
on Yamada Plain's
sakaki leaves,
the sacred rope of my heart,
no day passes I don't hang it.
Meaning: Not a day goes by that I do not hang the sacred rope of my heart upon the sakaki leaves of Yamada Plain.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1884

Headnote: "Composed when she presented a fifty-poem sequence."
This is the fourteenth poem in the sequence concerning the Great Shrine of Ise. There is no day, it says, when the poet does not hang the sacred rope of her heart on the sakaki leaves of Yamada Plain, where the Outer Shrine stands. According to the headnote, it was composed when she presented a fifty-poem sequence. It expresses a deep faith that does not let a single day pass without thought of the god.
The author, Echizen, was a lady-in-waiting and poet who served at court in the early Kamakura period.
Yamada Plain is the site of the Outer Shrine of Ise, a poetic place standing for the Outer Shrine.

The first line, "kamikaze ya," marks the sacred precinct of Ise and follows poems 1882 and 1883 of this book.
The second line, "Yamada no hara no," names the site of the Outer Shrine. Taking up "uchi to no miya" in the preceding poem, it turns to the ground of the Outer Shrine.
The third line, "sakakiba ni," means "on the sakaki leaves" before the god.
The fourth line, "kokoro no shime o," means "the sacred rope of my heart." Shime is the rope marking off a sacred precinct, here a figure for binding one's heart to the god.
The last line, "kakenu hi zo naki," means "there is no day I do not hang it," closing the particle "zo" with the attributive adjective "naki" in kakari-musubi. The double negative strongly conveys thinking of the god every single day. It corresponds to "kakenu ma zo naki" in poem 1887 of this book, both expressing in the same form the setting of one's heart on the god.
Author: Echizen
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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