「天の香具山」にて　at Mt. Amenokaguyama

古の　事は知らぬを　我見ても　久しくなりぬ　天の香具山

Inishieno kotowashiranuo waremitemo hisashikunarenu amenokaguyama

I know naught of ancient things, but even when I look at Mt. Amenokaguyama, I can tell much time has passed

昔のことは知らないけれど、私が見てからでも長い時間が経った、この天の香具山は、という歌。香具山は天皇が登られて国見をするほどの神聖な山で大和三山（香具山152ｍ・畝傍山199ｍ・耳成山139ｍ）の代表的な山ですが、畝傍山などのすっきりした姿に比べて、ちょっとずんぐりしているのはやはり天から落ちてきた衝撃でしょうか。山頂まで登ることができますので、第34代舒明天皇にならって国見をしてみるのも面白いですよ。

Although I don’t know much about the past, I can still tell that a long time has passed for this mountain. Mt. Amenokaguyama went on to become a sacred mountain that the emperor would climb to survey the land, as well as one of three sacred mountains of Yamato (Amenokaguyama at 152m, Unebi at 199m, Miminashi at 139m). Compared to the clean-cut shape of Unebi, Amenokaguyama may appear a little squat, perhaps due to the impact of falling from the sky. These days, you can climb to the summit and look out over the land just like the 34^th emperor Jomei did.