ちはやぶる香椎の宮のあや杉は
神のみそぎに立てるなりけり
神のみそぎに立てるなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Chihayaburu Kashii no miya no ayasugi wa kami no misogi ni tateru narikeri
- English Translation
-
Swift and mighty gods—
at the shrine of Kashii,
the sacred cedar
for the god's purification
stands there, so I come to see.
- Meaning
- The sacred cedar of the Kashii Shrine, I now see, stands there for the purification rites of the god.
- Commentary
-
Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1886
Headnote: "Composed on the cedar of the Kashii Shrine."
This is the first of the poems on shrines of the various provinces. The sacred cedar of the Kashii Shrine, it realizes, stands there for the purification rites of the god. According to the headnote, it was composed on the cedar of the Kashii Shrine. It reveres the sacred tree as one that stands for the god's rites.
The author is given as "Anonymous," and the name is not recorded.
The Kashii Shrine stands in Chikuzen Province (present-day Higashi Ward, Fukuoka) and enshrines Emperor Chūai and Empress Jingū. Its ayasugi cedar is known as the sacred tree of the precinct.
The first line, "chihayaburu," is a pillow word for "kami," "god," here modifying "Kashii no miya," the god's shrine.
The second line, "Kashii no miya no," names the Kashii Shrine in Chikuzen. The poems move from Ise to a shrine far away in Tsukushi.
The third line, "ayasugi wa," is the sacred cedar of the Kashii Shrine.
The fourth line, "kami no misogi ni," means "for the god's purification"; "misogi" is the rite of cleansing the body.
The last line, "tateru narikeri," means "so it stands there." The attributive "ru" of the continuative "ri" with the copula "nari" and the exclamatory "keri" conveys the emotion of realization.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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