Okuyama no mine tobikoyuru hatsukari no hatsuka ni dani mo mite ya yaminan - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

奥山の峰飛び越ゆる初雁の
はつかにだにも見てや止みなん

Roma-ji: Okuyama no mine tobikoyuru hatsukari no hatsuka ni dani mo mite ya yaminan
English Translation: Deep in the mountains
over the peaks the first geese
cross, and are gone:
having glimpsed you just so much,
must I gaze, and so be done?
Meaning: Like the first geese of autumn flying over the peaks of the deep mountains, must it end with only the briefest glimpse of you?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1018

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the first poem of a sequence on love that can only look on from afar. Through the first geese flying over the peaks of the deep mountains, the speaker laments that it may end with only a fleeting glimpse. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Mitsune," was one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū. He served in provincial posts in Kai, Izumi, and elsewhere, and was ranked alongside Ki no Tsurayuki.

The first line, "okuyama no," means "of the deep mountains, far from any village," showing the distance from the beloved.
The second line, "mine tobikoyuru," means "flying over the peaks," picturing geese that vanish from sight in a moment.
In the third line, "hatsukari" are the first geese to arrive in autumn. The first three lines form a preface that leads by repeated sound to "hatsuka."
In the fourth line, "hatsuka" means "the slightest bit," and "dani mo" stresses how slight it is.
In the last line, "ya" poses a question resolved by "nan." It ends with the same phrase, "mite ya yaminan," as the second line of 990, which opens the book; against the white clouds on the peak there, here the first geese cross the peak. The love that only looks from afar returns with a new creature of the heights. The next poem, by Retired Emperor Teiji, also uses "yoso ni nomi," the opening words of the first poem of the book.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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