大汝少御神の作らしし
妹背の山を見らくしよしも
妹背の山を見らくしよしも
- Roma-ji
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Ōnamuchi sukunamikami no tsukurashishi imose no yama o miraku shi yoshi mo
- English Translation
-
Great Ōnamuchi
and the small god Sukuna
fashioned them long ago—
the hills of Imo and Se,
how good it is to see them!
- Meaning
- How good it is to gaze on the Imose mountains, fashioned long ago by the gods Ōnamuchi and Sukunami!
- Commentary
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Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1247
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on Journeys"
The poet praises how wonderful it is to see the Imose mountains, said to have been fashioned by the land-making gods Ōnamuchi and Sukunahikona. Linking them to the tradition of the gods' making of the land, he extols the mountains as a sacred scene.
The left note says, "The four poems above come from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection," so this poem begins four from that collection. The Imose mountains also appear in poems 1193 and 1208 to 1210 in this book.
The first line names Ōnamuchi, another name for Ōkuninushi, the god who made the land.
The second line refers to Sukunahikona, said to have made the land together with Ōnamuchi.
The third line, "fashioned them long ago," joins the continuative of the honorific "su" to the past "shi."
The fourth line names Mount Imo and Mount Se in Kii.
In the final line, "miraku" is the nominalized form of "miru": "seeing them is good." "Shi" is emphatic and "mo" exclamatory.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Shika no ama no shio yaku keburi kaze o itami tachi wa noborazu yama ni tanabiku
- Next Poem
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Wagimoko to mitsutsu shinowamu okitsumo no hana sakitaraba ware ni tsuge koso