Kimi o inoru negai o sora ni mitetamae Wakeikazuchi no kami naraba kami - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君を祈る願ひを空に満てたまへ
別雷の神ならば神

Roma-ji: Kimi o inoru negai o sora ni mitetamae Wakeikazuchi no kami naraba kami
English Translation: This wish that I make,
praying for my lord, let it
fill the sky above,
god of Wakeikazuchi,
if you are a god indeed
Meaning: Let this prayer I make for my lord fill the whole sky and be granted, O god of Wakeikazuchi, if you are truly a god.
Commentary: Book Twenty Shinto Poems 1273

Headnote: "Composed as a poem of personal grievance when I urged people to compose poems for the Kamo Shrine poetry contest"
He composed this as a poem of personal grievance for a Kamo Shrine poetry contest at which he had urged others to compose. Fill the sky with my prayer for my lord, if the god of Wakeikazuchi is a god, he says. Wakeikazuchi, the god of the Kamo Wakeikazuchi Shrine, is a god of thunder, and in the god's own terms he prays fiercely that his wish may fill the sky as thunder does. Repeating "kami," god, in the last line, it is a poem of pressing urgency.
The author, "Kamo no Shigeyasu," was the chief priest of the Kamo Wakeikazuchi Shrine, who associated with many poets and compiled the private anthology Tsukimōde Wakashū.
It follows the preceding poem, 1272, as a poem on Kamo, and the next poem, 1274, comes from a second poetry contest at the same shrine.

First line, "kimi o inoru": a line of six syllables, one over the count. "Kimi" is the emperor, and the line means praying for his long reign.
Second line, "negai o sora ni": the sky is the dwelling of the thunder god, linked to "Wakeikazuchi" in the fourth line.
Third line, "mitetamae": "mitsu" means to fill, and "tamae" is the imperative of an honorific auxiliary verb. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "Wakeikazuchi no": the god of the Kamo Wakeikazuchi Shrine.
Fifth line, "kami naraba kami": "if you are a god, then as a god indeed," repeating "kami" to appeal to the god's power. By inversion it gives the premise of the prayer of the third line.
Author: Kamo no Shigeyasu
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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