On the shrine at Miwa.[i]
いまつくるみわのはふりがすぎ社すぎにし事はとはずともよし
| ima tsukuru miwa no hafuri ga sugi yashiro suginishi koto wa towazu tomo yoshi | Newly invested, At Miwa, a junior priest For the cedar shrine, but What has occurred It would be better not to ask! |
635
[i] This is Ōmiwa Shrine (Ōmiwa jinja 大神神社) which is located on the western slopes of Mount Miwa 三輪山, in what is now Sakurai in Nara prefecture. Mount Miwa is covered by a cedar forest and the trees thus became an object of veneration at the shrine, something which was reinforced by: Topic unknown. 我が庵は三輪の山もと戀しくは訪らひ來ませ杉立てる門 wa ga io wa / miwa no yama moto / koishiku wa / toburaikimase / sugi tateru kado ‘My hut is / At Mount Miwa’s foot; / How I long / For you to come visiting / My gate where cedars stand.’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVIII: 982). This poem was attributed to the deity of Ōmiwa Shrine, Miwa Myōjin 三輪明神, and firmly cemented the link between Miwa and cedars in poetry. See McAuley (2020, 577–578) for more details and example poems.