Kamuyo yori yoshino no miya ni arigayoi takashiraseru wa yamakawa o yomi

神代より吉野の宮にあり通ひ
高知らせるは山川をよみ

Roma-ji: Kamuyo yori yoshino no miya ni arigayoi takashiraseru wa yamakawa o yomi
English Translation: Since the age of gods
to the palace of Yoshino
they have come and gone,
raising it high and splendid—
for its hills and streams are fair
Meaning: Since the age of the gods, the sovereigns have journeyed again and again to the palace at Yoshino and built it high and splendid, because its mountains and rivers are so fine.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 1006

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "One envoy"
This poem praises Yoshino, saying that the sovereigns have continued to visit the palace there since the age of the gods and have raised it high and splendid because its mountains and rivers are so excellent. The long poem immediately before it (1005) is titled "A poem composed by Yamabe no Sukune Akahito in response to an imperial command when the Emperor made a progress to the detached palace at Yoshino in the sixth month of summer in the eighth year, hinoe-ne," and was composed while accompanying Emperor Shōmu on his progress to Yoshino in the sixth month of Tenpyō 8 (736).
The long poem praised the Yoshino palace with the paired images of mountains and river, "the mountains are high, so the clouds trail over them; the river is swift, so the sound of its rapids is pure," and closed by saying that so long as the mountains and river do not end, neither will the palace. This envoy gathers the long poem's praise of mountains and river into the single phrase "for its hills and streams are fair," presenting it as the reason the Yoshino palace has endured since the age of the gods.
The poet, Yamabe no Akahito, was a court poet of the early Nara period who accompanied Emperor Shōmu on his progresses and left many poems of praise and scenic description. In later ages he was revered as a sage of poetry alongside Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

"For its hills and streams are fair" in this poem echoes the line with which Kasa no Kanamura praised Yoshino in 907 at the head of the book, "the mountains and rivers so pure and so clear." Book Six, which began with the Yoshino progress of Yōrō 7, here reaches a poem of praise from the Yoshino progress of Tenpyō 8, and the poems praising the hills and streams of Yoshino answer each other within the book.
The first line, "Since the age of gods," means from the time of the gods, showing that the history of the Yoshino palace reaches back to the divine age and grasping its origins on a grand scale.
The second line, "to the palace of Yoshino," refers to the detached palace at Yoshino, taking up the palace praised in the long poem.
The third line, "they have come and gone," means "continuing to visit." "Ari" attached to a verb expresses continuation, and the line tells how the successive sovereigns have made progress after progress without ceasing.
The fourth line, "raising it high and splendid," means "that they have built the palace lofty." "Takashiru" means to build a palace high and grand, and "seru" is the honorific "su" with the continuative "ri."
The final line, "for its hills and streams are fair," means "because the mountains and rivers are good." It uses the construction of "o" with an adjective stem plus "mi" to express a reason, giving in inverted order the reason for "raising it high" in the fourth line. The poem closes by gathering the long poem's praise of mountains and river into this one line.
Author: Yamabe no Akahito
Source: Manyoshu
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