Kimi ga yo no hisashikaru beki tameshi ni ya kami mo uekemu Sumiyoshi no matsu - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君が代の久しかるべきためしにや
神も植ゑけむ住吉の松

Roma-ji: Kimi ga yo no hisashikaru beki tameshi ni ya kami mo uekemu Sumiyoshi no matsu
English Translation: As the pattern
of how long my lord's reign shall last,
did the gods too
set it in the ground, I wonder,
the pine of Sumiyoshi
Meaning: Did even the gods plant it, I wonder, as a pattern for how long my lord's reign is to last, this pine of Sumiyoshi?
Commentary: Book Five Celebration Poems 170

Seeing the pine of Sumiyoshi as a model planted by the god himself to show the permanence of the reign, the poem celebrates the long endurance of the sovereign's rule.
The god of Sumiyoshi and the age of the pines on its shore appear in tales such as episode 117 of The Tales of Ise, where the great god reveals himself during an imperial visit, and the pair has long been cherished as a token of blessing. Drawing on that tradition and raising the pine's antiquity to the will of the gods gives the poem its weight as a celebration poem.

First line, "As the pattern," corresponds to kimi ga yo no, the same opening words as 161 and 164; with only the particle changing, poems hailing the reign recur through the book.
Second line, "of how long my lord's reign shall last," joins hisashi to beshi of natural expectation: the reign is bound to last long.
Third line, "did the gods too," corresponds to tameshi ni ya, a question with ya, guessing that the pine may be the pattern for the reign's length.
Fourth line, "set it in the ground, I wonder," resolves ya with the attributive of the past conjectural kemu. It takes up 165's "the age of gods" and leads on to "the living god" of the next poem, 171.
Fifth line, "the pine of Sumiyoshi," ends on a noun, the very same final line as 163. Placing the same line mid-book and near its end, and pairing it with the next poem, the book closes on the pine of Sumiyoshi.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shika Wakashu
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