Wagimoko o izami no yama o takami ka mo yamato no mienu kuni tōmi ka mo

我妹子をいざ見の山を高みかも
大和の見えぬ国遠みかも

Roma-ji: Wagimoko o izami no yama o takami ka mo yamato no mienu kuni tōmi ka mo
English Translation: Is it that the hill
called "Come-See-My-Dear-Wife"
is too high, perhaps,
that Yamato cannot be seen?
Or is my land too far now?
Meaning: Is it because Izami—"come, let me see my wife"—is so high that I cannot see Yamato? Or is it because my homeland lies so far away?
Commentary: Book One Miscellaneous Poems 44

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When the Empress journeyed to Ise Province: a poem composed by Minister Isonokami while attending her"
A poem of homesickness on the road with the royal journey to Ise: is Yamato hidden because Mount Izami is so high, or because home is now so far away? Hearing in the mountain's name the words "come, let me see my wife," it deftly expresses longing for the wife left in the capital. Where the preceding poem thought of the traveling husband from the wife's side, this one yearns for Yamato from the traveling husband's side, and the two form a pair. The left note records the royal journey to Ise in 692.
Isonokami no Maro was a noble descended from the Mononobe clan. He sided with Prince Ōtomo in the Jinshin War, but later served Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō in high favor and, early in the Nara period, rose to Minister of the Left. The headnote's "Minister Isonokami" refers to him by that later office.

The first line, "my dear wife," is the object of the mi ("see") in izami, serving as a preface that leads to the name of the mountain.
The second line names Mount Izami, thought to be Mount Takami on the border of Ise and Yamato, and plays on its name as "come, let me see her."
In the third line, takami uses the "o ... mi" pattern for "because it is high," and ka mo is a question: "is it because the mountain is high?" The poem pauses here, setting it beside the last line.
The fourth line, "Yamato cannot be seen," is the pivot that receives both reasons, in the third and last lines.
The last line, "or because my land is far?" repeats the form of the third line in parallel. Setting two reasons side by side, it stresses the grief of not seeing Yamato.
Author: Isonokami no Maro
Source: Manyoshu
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