Omou koto kumite kanauru kami nareba Shioya ni ato o taruru narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ふこと汲みてかなふる神なれば
塩屋に跡を垂るるなりけり

Roma-ji: Omou koto kumite kanauru kami nareba Shioya ni ato o taruru narikeri
English Translation: Since this is a god
who draws up what we long for
and grants our wishes,
here at Shioya it has
let its traces descend
Meaning: Since this is a god who draws up what people long for and grants their wishes, it is fitting that it has come down and shown itself here at Shioya, where the brine is drawn.
Commentary: Book Twenty Shinto Poems 1258

Headnote: "Composed when, accompanying the Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa on his pilgrimage to Kumano, people composed poems before the Shioya Ōji shrine"
He composed this when, attending the Cloistered Emperor Shirakawa on his pilgrimage to Kumano, the party composed poems before the Shioya Ōji shrine. Shioya Ōji, on the coast of Kii, is one of the many Ōji shrines set along the road to Kumano. Since this is a god who draws up our wishes and grants them, it has let its traces descend at Shioya, he says. Drawing on the idea that the Buddha appears provisionally as a god, he praises the god's virtue through the place name: how fitting that a god who draws up people's wishes should appear at Shioya, where brine is drawn to make salt.
The author, "Later Sanjō Palace Minister," is Fujiwara no Kinnori. A son of the Provisional Major Counselor Sanjō Saneyuki, he rose to palace minister.
The next poem, 1259, likewise sings of the Buddha appearing as a god. 1268 in this book was also composed at an Ōji shrine on the pilgrimage to Kumano.

First line, "omou koto": what people wish for in their hearts.
Second line, "kumite kanauru": "kumu" means to fathom another's thoughts, and as drawing up brine it is an associated word of "Shioya." "Kanauru" means to grant.
Third line, "kami nareba": "since it is a god," giving the reason.
Fourth line, "Shioya ni ato o": Shioya is a place name that calls to mind a hut for boiling salt. "Ato o taru," to let one's traces descend, means the Buddha's manifestation as a god, and "taru," to drip, is also an associated word of salt.
Fifth line, "taruru narikeri": "nari" is the copula and "keri" an exclamatory auxiliary of realization.
Author: Fujiwara no Kiminori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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