Ame no shita Mikasa no yama no kage narade tanomu kata naki mi to wa shirazu ya - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

天の下三笠の山の陰ならで
頼む方なき身とは知らずや

Roma-ji: Ame no shita Mikasa no yama no kage narade tanomu kata naki mi to wa shirazu ya
English Translation: Beneath all heaven,
but for Mount Mikasa's shade,
sheltering as a hat,
I have none to rely on—
do you not know this of me?
Meaning: Do you not know that, but for the shelter of Mount Mikasa, which covers all beneath heaven like a hat, I have no one to rely on?
Commentary: Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1897

Headnote: "On the gods, when a hundred-poem sequence was composed at his house."
This is the third poem in the sequence on the Kasuga Shrine. Does the god not know, it asks, that the poet has nothing to rely on but the shade of Mount Mikasa, which covers all beneath heaven? According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic of the gods when a hundred-poem sequence was composed at the author's house. It earnestly declares a heart that relies only on the god of Kasuga, clan god of the Fujiwara.
No author is named in the original, and the poem is treated as continuing from the author of the preceding poem, Kujō Kanezane.
Mount Mikasa rises behind the Kasuga Shrine and is celebrated in poetry as the mountain where the god of Kasuga, clan god of the Fujiwara, dwells.

The first line, "ame no shita," means "all beneath heaven." Through the image of the "kasa," "hat," of Mikasa covering the realm, it leads into the second line.
The second line, "Mikasa no yama no," is Mount Mikasa behind the Kasuga Shrine. Through the associated "kasa," "hat," it leads to "kage," "shade," in the third line.
The third line, "kage narade," means "if not for its shade." "Kage" is the mountain's shade and also means the god's protection.
The fourth line, "tanomu kata naki," means "with no one to rely on."
The last line, "mi to wa shirazu ya," means "do you not know I am such a one?" The particle "ya" poses the question as a plea to the god. From the bright festival scene of the preceding poem, it turns to a personal lament relying on the god of Kasuga. It resembles "nani ni tanomi o kakete" in poem 1892 of this book, both speaking of a heart with no reliance but the god.
Author: Kujō Kanezane
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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