Arare furi Kashima no kami o inoritsutsu sumera mikusa ni ware wa kinishi o

霰降り鹿島の神を祈りつつ
皇御軍に我れは来にしを

Roma-ji: Arare furi Kashima no kami o inoritsutsu sumera mikusa ni ware wa kinishi o
English Translation: Hail falls clattering:
to the god of Kashima
I prayed as I went
and as a soldier for my
sovereign I have come so far
Meaning: Praying to the god of Kashima, where the hail beats down, I have come to serve as a soldier of my sovereign.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4370

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems of the frontier guards sent in rotation to the provinces of Tsukushi in the second month of Tenpyō Shōhō 7, year of the wood sheep."
Praying to the god of Kashima, I have come as a soldier of my sovereign: the poem states the pride and resolve of a frontier guard. It is the eighth poem from Hitachi, by the same author as the preceding one. Having sung of love for his wife, the author here declares himself a soldier praying to the war god of Kashima, so that the two poems set private feeling against public duty.
The author, Ōtoneribe no Chifumi, is recorded as a regular guard from Naka District in Hitachi; nothing more is known of him.

The first line, "arare furi," from the clatter of falling hail, is a pillow word for Kashima.
The second line, "Kashima no kami o," names the god of Kashima Shrine in Hitachi, revered as a god of war.
The third line, "inoritsutsu," means "praying for victory and safety."
The fourth line, "sumera mikusa ni," "as a soldier of the sovereign," proudly expresses the guard's duty.
The closing line, "ware wa kinishi o," ends in the exclamatory o: I have come. It contrasts with the tenderness of "kanashike" in the preceding poem.
Author: Ōtoneribe no Chifumi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Tsukubane no sayuru no hana no yutoko ni mo kanashike imo zo hiru mo kanashike
Next Poem: Tachibana no shita fuku kaze no kaguwashiki Tsukuba no yama o koizu arame kamo