Tachiyama ni furiokeru yuki no tokonatsu ni kezute wataru wa kamunagara to zo

立山に降り置ける雪の常夏に
消ずてわたるは神ながらとぞ

Roma-ji: Tachiyama ni furiokeru yuki no tokonatsu ni kezute wataru wa kamunagara to zo
English Translation: The snow that has fallen
and lies upon Tachiyama
all summer long
stays on and never melts—
so it is, they say, by the god's will
Meaning: That the snow which has fallen on Mount Tachiyama lies unmelted all summer long is, they say, because it is the will of the god.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 4004

Headnote: the quatrain of "A poem respectfully composed in reply to the rhapsody on Mount Tachiyama, with two quatrains"
That the snow on Tachiyama lies unmelted all summer is, they say, the will of the god—a poem replying to Yakamochi's and praising Tachiyama. This is one of two tanka attached to the chōka Ikenushi composed on the twenty-eighth day of the fourth month of 747 in reply to Yakamochi's "Rhapsody on Mount Tachiyama." The chōka praises Tachiyama, towering in the morning sun and thrusting through the thousandfold white clouds toward heaven, where snow lies without distinction of winter or summer and the sacred rocks have stood for untold ages, while in the clear gorge where waters plunge from its peaks mist rises every morning and clouds trail every evening; it closes by vowing to tell of it for ten thousand ages, the sound of its waters clear, as long as the river does not cease. It opens with almost the same words as Yakamochi's envoy, 4001, and praises the sacred mountain in answer to its last line.
The poet, Ōtomo no Ikenushi, served as Secretary of Etchū under Governor Yakamochi. A member of the same clan and well versed in Chinese verse and prose, he exchanged many poems and letters with Yakamochi during the Etchū years.
The left note reads, "The above is Secretary Ōtomo no Sukune Ikenushi's reply (twenty-eighth day of the fourth month)."

First line, "Tachiyama ni": the same words as the first line of Yakamochi's 4001.
Second line, "furiokeru yuki no": the line of 4001 with its particle changed from o to no, laying the whole upper verse over Yakamochi's poem in a spirit of response.
Third line, "tokonatsu ni": the same as the third line of 4001, "all summer long."
Fourth line, "kezute wataru wa": kezu means "without melting" and wataru "to pass time"—"that it lasts on unmelted."
Fifth line, "kamunagara to zo": "just as the god wills," with a verb such as "they say" omitted after to zo. Answering "kamukara narashi" at the end of 4001, it turns inference into conviction.
Author: Ōtomo no Ikenushi
Source: Manyoshu
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