Ashihiki no yama no sakakiba tokiwa naru kage ni sakayuru kami no kine kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あしひきの山の榊葉常盤なる
影に栄ゆる神のきねかな

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yama no sakakiba tokiwa naru kage ni sakayuru kami no kine kana
English Translation: The sakaki leaves
of the mountain, leg-wearying,
are evergreen,
and in their shade flourish so
the ones who serve the gods!
Meaning: Like the sakaki leaves of the mountain, ever green, the shrine attendants of the gods flourish in their shade!
Commentary: Book Ten Kagura Songs 618

Headnote: "A poem for a screen made when Middle Counselor Tsunesuke presented a celebration of the sixtieth year of Kiyotsura, Minister of Popular Affairs, on the twenty-fourth day of the eighth month of the fourth year of Enchō, at the place depicting a kagura performance"
The poem marvels at the shrine attendants of the gods who flourish in the evergreen shade of the mountain's sakaki leaves. The headnote shows that on the twenty-fourth day of the eighth month of the fourth year of Enchō, when Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Tsunesuke held and presented a celebration of the sixtieth year of Fujiwara no Kiyotsura, Minister of Popular Affairs, this poem was written for a screen at a scene of a kagura performance. Laying the flourishing of those who serve the gods over the unchanging green of the sakaki, it celebrates the long life and prosperity of Kiyotsura. It answers the sakaki-leaf poems at the head of the book, 576 and 577, singing of the sakaki at a kagura rite.
The author, written as "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki. He was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū, wrote its kana preface and the Tosa Diary, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "ashihiki no," is a pillow word introducing "yama," mountain.
Second line, "yama no sakakiba," means "the sakaki leaves of the mountain," the same word as the first lines of the opening poems, 576 and 577, "sakakiba."
Third line, "tokiwa naru," means "evergreen," speaking of the unchanging green of the sakaki.
Fourth line, "kage ni sakayuru," means "flourishing in its shade," with "kage" layering the shade of the sakaki and unchanging favor.
Final line, "kami no kine kana," means "the attendants who serve the gods," with "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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