Ōmi naru Iyataka yama no sakaki nite kimi ga chiyo o ba inori kazasan - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

近江なるいやたか山の榊にて
君が千代をば祈りかざさん

Roma-ji: Ōmi naru Iyataka yama no sakaki nite kimi ga chiyo o ba inori kazasan
English Translation: With the sakaki
from Iyataka in Ōmi,
ever rising high,
praying for our sovereign's reign,
I will wear it in my hair.
Meaning: With sakaki from Mount Iyataka, "Ever Higher," in Ōmi, I will pray for a thousand ages for our sovereign and wear it in my hair.
Commentary: Book Ten Kagura Songs 610

Headnote: "Fūzoku songs for the Great Thanksgiving Festival of the first year of Tenroku: Mount Iyataka"
The poem says that the poet will take sakaki from Mount Iyataka in Ōmi and, praying for the sovereign's thousand ages, wear it in his hair. Pivoting the place name Iyataka on "iya taka," ever higher, it prays for a reign whose glory rises ever higher through the sakaki used in sacred rites.
The headnote, "Fūzoku songs for the Great Thanksgiving Festival of the first year of Tenroku," shows that the poem was offered at the Great Thanksgiving Festival held in the first year of Tenroku upon the accession of Emperor En'yū. From here to 617, as in the earlier sequence of the first year of Anna, poems on place names follow, and some of the same names are sung at both festivals.
The author, written as "Kanemori," is Taira no Kanemori. A son of Prince Atsuyuki, of the line of Emperor Kōkō, he left the imperial family and took the name Taira. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for his poem "shinoburedo" in the Hyakunin Isshu, with which he competed against Mibu no Tadami at the Tentoku Palace Poetry Contest.

First line, "Ōmi naru," means "in Ōmi Province," the same line as the third line of 608, "Ōmi naru."
Second line, "Iyataka yama no," is a pivot word: "Iyataka" means the place name Mount Iyataka given as the topic and "iya taka," ever higher.
Third line, "sakaki nite," means "with sakaki," singing, like the sakaki leaves of the opening poems, 576 and 577, of the sakaki used in sacred rites.
Fourth line, "kimi ga chiyo o ba," means "our sovereign's thousand ages," with "ba" strengthening "o."
Final line, "inori kazasan," means "I will pray and wear it in my hair," with "n" an auxiliary of intention.
Author: Taira no Kanemori
Source: Shui Wakashu
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