Kamunabi no mimoro no yama ni iwau sugi omoi sugime ya koke musu made ni

神なびの三諸の山に斎ふ杉
思ひ過ぎめや苔生すまでに

Roma-ji: Kamunabi no mimoro no yama ni iwau sugi omoi sugime ya koke musu made ni
English Translation: On the sacred hill,
the Mimoro mountain, stands
the hallowed cedar—
should my love pass away? Never,
not till moss has grown upon it
Meaning: Like the cedar held sacred on Mount Mimoro, the god’s own hill—could my love ever pass away? Never, not even until the moss grows thick.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Miscellaneous Poems 3228

Headnote: "Envoy"
This is the envoy to the chōka (3227). Using the sacred cedar of Mount Mimoro as an introduction, it vows that love will never fade. The chōka prays to the god to “keep coming safely, night after new night, until moss grows on the stone pillow,” and the envoy closes with the same “until moss grows,” doubling the vow. Some read the poems as blessings for a wedding or a new marriage.
The poet is unknown. Book Thirteen is built mainly of anonymous chōka and their envoys, and many of its poems preserve the air of old songs and ritual verse.

The first line, “kamunabi no,” names the hill where a god descends, and together with “Mimoro” it layers sacred ground upon sacred ground.
In the second line, “Mimoro” denotes a place where a deity dwells and is generally taken to mean Mount Miwa.
The third line, “iwau sugi,” is the cedar revered as a sacred tree; up to here the lines form an introduction leading to “sugi” (to pass), linked by sound to “sugi” (cedar).
In the fourth line, “me ya” joins the conjectural “mu” to the particle “ya” to form a rhetorical question—“could it pass? No.” The poem breaks here.
The closing line, “koke musu made ni,” means “even until moss grows,” taking up the chōka’s phrase and added through inversion as a pledge of eternity.
Source: Manyoshu
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