Kamigaki no mimuro no yama no sakakiba wa kami no mimae ni shigeriai ni keri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

神垣の御室の山の榊葉は
神の御前に茂りあひにけり

Roma-ji: Kamigaki no mimuro no yama no sakakiba wa kami no mimae ni shigeriai ni keri
English Translation: Within the sacred fence,
on the mountain of Mimuro,
the sakaki leaves
before the presence of the god
have grown thick, one on another.
Meaning: On the god's own mountain of Mimuro, the sakaki leaves have grown dense and intertwined before the divine presence.
Commentary: Book Twenty Poems of the Bureau of Court Song 1074

Headnote: "Kagura Songs: Torimono Song"
The song praises the sakaki leaves on the sacred mountain growing thick before the god, celebrating the god's power and the flourishing of the rite. It takes as its subject the sakaki, one of the torimono, and stands at the head of the kagura songs. No author is recorded.
Torimono songs are kagura songs sung on the hand-held objects that dancers carried in the sacred dance, such as sakaki branches, bows, ladles and vines. Poems 1074 through 1079 form this group of six.

The first line, "within the sacred fence," refers to the hedge enclosing a shrine and serves as a pillow word for mimuro.
The second line, "of the mountain of Mimuro," means the mountain where a god dwells, taken to be Mount Miwa in Yamato.
The third line, "the sakaki leaves," names the evergreen used in Shinto rites. It takes the sakaki torimono as its theme, and the next poem, 1075, carries on the same word.
The fourth line, "before the god," means in the god's presence, answering the sacred fence of the first line and layering the holiness of the place.
The last line, "have grown thick together," uses keri to mark the exclamation of noticing.
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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Next Poem: Shimo yatabi okedo karesenu sakakiba no tachisakayu beki kami no kine kamo