classic waka stream

香具山と耳成山と闘ひし時
立ちて見に来し印南国原
Roma-ji

Kaguyama to miminashiyama to aishi toki tachite mi ni koshi inami kunihara

English Translation
Kagu Mountain and
Miminashi Mountain fought,
and when they did so,
one rose and came here to watch—
the wide plain of Inami.
Meaning
When Mount Kagu and Mount Miminashi fought, a god rose and came to watch—here, on this broad plain of Inami.
Commentary
Book One Miscellaneous Poems 14

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The Three Hills poem by Naka no Ōe — envoy"
An envoy to the long poem on the legend of the three hills of Yamato quarreling over a wife, it sings of the plain of Inami, where a god is said to have come to watch when Mount Kagu and Mount Miminashi fought. The Harima Fudoki tells how Ahoe no Ōkami of Izumo set out to stop the quarrel but, hearing it had ended, stayed on in Harima, and this poem draws on that legend. It is thought to have been composed when Prince Naka no Ōe passed the plain of Inami in Harima while accompanying Empress Saimei's western campaign.
Prince Naka no Ōe, son of Emperor Jomei and Empress Kōgyoku (Saimei), later became Emperor Tenji. With Nakatomi no Kamatari he overthrew the Soga clan and led the Taika Reforms, and he later moved the capital to Ōtsu in Ōmi, where he took the throne.

The first line names Mount Kagu, one of the three hills of Yamato. Taking up the long poem's "Mount Kagu," it summons the legend of the hills' quarrel.
The second line names another of the three, setting the two combatants side by side with "... and ... and." In the long poem, Kagu and Miminashi fight over Mount Unebi.
In the third line the verb for "fight" is read au. The past attributive shi tells it as an event of the age of the gods.
The fourth line, "rose and came to watch," is taken to have as its subject the god Ahoe no Ōkami of the legend. Shi, the attributive of the past ki, modifies the plain of Inami in the last line.
The last line names the plain of Inami District in Harima, around present-day Kakogawa and Takasago in Hyōgo Prefecture. Ending on a noun, it presents the stage of the legend as the landscape before the poet's eyes.
Author
Prince Naka no Ōe
Source
Manyoshu
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