Narukami no oto ni nomi kiku Makimuku no Hibara no yama o kyō mitsuru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

鳴る神の音にのみ聞く巻向の
檜原の山を今日見つるかな

Roma-ji: Narukami no oto ni nomi kiku Makimuku no Hibara no yama o kyō mitsuru kana
English Translation: Like the thunder's roar
only by report I'd heard
of Makimuku's
mountain of cypress groves—
today I have seen it at last.
Meaning: Today at last I have seen the cypress-covered mountain of Makimuku, which until now I had known only by report, like the distant sound of thunder.
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 490

Headnote: "On mountains"
The poet says that today he has at last seen the cypress mountain of Makimuku, which he had known only by report. The headnote shows it was composed on the topic of mountains. He conveys his emotion at beholding the famous cypress mountain with a pillow word that likens its renown to the sound of thunder. Like Tsurayuki's poem on the pines of Sumiyoshi in 456 of this book, it begins "oto ni nomi kiku" and ends "kyō mitsuru kana," so the two share the same structure.
The author, written as Hitomaro, is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet of the Asuka period, he is revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. The Shūishū includes many Man'yōshū poems under his name.
A poem of nearly the same form appears in Book Seven of the Man'yōshū.

First line, "narukami no," means "of thunder," a pillow word introducing "oto," sound.
Second line, "oto ni nomi kiku," means "known only by report." It shares the idea of the first and second lines of 456, "oto ni nomi kikiwataritsuru."
Third line, "Makimuku no," means "of Makimuku" in Yamato.
Fourth line, "Hibara no yama o," means "the mountain thick with cypress." The next poem, 491, also sings of "the cypress grove of Miwa," sharing the word "hibara."
Final line, "kyō mitsuru kana," means "today I have seen," with "kana" an exclamatory particle. It is the same line as the final line of 456.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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