Ōkimi wa kami ni shi maseba amakumo no ikazuchi no ue ni iori seru kamo

大君は神にしませば天雲の
雷の上に廬りせるかも

Roma-ji: Ōkimi wa kami ni shi maseba amakumo no ikazuchi no ue ni iori seru kamo
English Translation: Our great sovereign,
being a god, has made
amid heaven's clouds,
high above the thunder god,
a lodging for his stay.
Meaning: Because our great sovereign is a god, he has built a lodging and dwells high above the thunder, among the clouds of heaven.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 235

Headnote: "A poem composed by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro when the Emperor made an excursion to Ikazuchi Hill"
This poem praises the Emperor as a god on the occasion of an outing to Ikazuchi ("Thunder") Hill in Asuka. Taking the place name literally as the thunder god of the sky, Hitomaro grandly sings that a sovereign who pitches a lodging above it must truly be divine. The phrase "being a god" is the classic formula for honoring the Emperor as a living deity, and this celebrated court poem fittingly opens the Miscellaneous Poems of Book Three. The Emperor is most often taken to be Empress Jitō, though Emperor Tenmu and Emperor Monmu have also been proposed.
A left note records that a certain text presents the poem as offered to Prince Osakabe, in the form "Our great sovereign, being a god, has laid out his palace on Thunder Mountain hidden in the clouds."
The poet, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was a court poet active from the reign of Jitō through that of Monmu. Master of both long and short poems, he was later revered as the "Saint of Poetry." His rank was low, and much of his life remains obscure.

First line "Our great sovereign" refers to the Emperor. The topic particle wa sets out at once the object of praise.
Second line "being a god": shi is an emphatic particle and mase is the conditional form of masu, the honorific of "to be"; with ba it gives the sense "since he is a god." Poem 241 in this book opens with the same first and second lines, sharing this formula of imperial praise.
Third line "heaven's clouds" places the following "thunder" firmly in the sky, lifting the hill's name up to the thunder of the heavens.
Fourth line "above the thunder" treats the place name as the thunder god himself. The line has one syllable too many.
Fifth line "has made a lodging": iori means to build a hut and stay in it, seru combines the verb su with the continuative auxiliary ri, and kamo expresses wonder. The poem closes in awe at the vast image of a dwelling set upon the thunder.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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