Uneme no sode fukikaesu asukakaze miyako o tōmi itazura ni fuku

采女の袖吹きかへす明日香風
都を遠みいたづらに吹く

Roma-ji: Uneme no sode fukikaesu asukakaze miyako o tōmi itazura ni fuku
English Translation: The Asuka wind
that once turned back the long sleeves
of the palace maids—
with the capital far off,
now it blows in vain alone.
Meaning: The wind of Asuka, which once fluttered the sleeves of the palace maids, now blows in vain, for the capital has moved far away.
Commentary: Book One Miscellaneous Poems 51

Headnote: "A poem composed by Prince Shiki after the court moved from the Asuka Palace to the Fujiwara Palace"
After the capital moved from Asuka to Fujiwara, the prince sings of the loneliness of the old capital: the Asuka wind that once fluttered the sleeves of the lovely palace maids now blows in vain. Capturing only the wind that blows through a capital emptied of people, it expresses in few words a longing for the splendid days gone by. Thought to date from after the move to Fujiwara in 694, the eighth year of Empress Jitō, it ranks with Hitomaro's and Kurohito's laments for the old capital of Ōmi as a celebrated poem on a former capital.
Prince Shiki was a son of Emperor Tenji. As the throne passed down Emperor Tenmu's line, he never took a leading role in politics, but he is known as a poet of fresh, luminous landscape verse. His son, Prince Shirakabe, later took the throne as Emperor Kōnin.

The first line names the uneme, court women chosen from the daughters of provincial chieftains to attend the sovereign. Read uneme no, the line has only four syllables.
The second line, "blowing back their sleeves," pictures the maids' lovely sleeves fluttering in the wind and shows the old capital's brilliance.
The third line, asukakaze, "the Asuka wind," ends on a noun. This compact coinage, a place name joined to "wind," vividly conveys the mood of the former capital.
The fourth line, miyako o tōmi, uses the "o ... mi" pattern: "because the capital is far." With the court moved to Fujiwara, Asuka now lies far from the capital.
The last line means "blows in vain." Setting present emptiness against the former brilliance of the second line, it leaves a deep impression of the old capital's loneliness.
Author: Prince Shiki
Source: Manyoshu
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