Miyoshino no yama no arashi no samukeku ni hata ya koyoi mo waga hitori nemu

み吉野の山のあらしの寒けくに
はたや今夜も我が独り寝む

Roma-ji: Miyoshino no yama no arashi no samukeku ni hata ya koyoi mo waga hitori nemu
English Translation: From the hills around
fair Yoshino, the wild wind
blows so bitter cold—
and again tonight, it seems,
I must sleep here all alone.
Meaning: The storm wind blowing down from the hills of Yoshino is so cold—must I sleep alone again tonight?
Commentary: Book One Miscellaneous Poems 74

Headnote: "Poems from the journey of the late Emperor to the Yoshino Palace"
On a night chilled by the storm wind blowing down from the hills of Yoshino, the poet laments that once again he must sleep alone on the road. Overlaying cold and solitude, it voices longing for someone left in the capital. The left note says, "some say it is the Emperor's own poem," preserving one view that attributes it to Emperor Monmu.
The headnote names no author; only the left note preserves the view that it was composed by Emperor Monmu, and the attribution cannot be confirmed. Emperor Monmu, personal name Prince Karu, was the son of Prince Kusakabe and took the throne at fifteen when his grandmother, Empress Jitō, abdicated in his favor.

In the first line, mi is a praising prefix honoring Yoshino.
The second line, "the storm wind of the hills," means a fierce wind blowing down from the mountains; the original script writes it as "wind beneath the mountain."
In the third line, samukeku is a nominal form meaning "the cold," and with ni gives "though it is cold."
In the fourth line, hata means "again, after all," and ya is a questioning particle: "tonight too?" It forms a kakari-musubi with the mu of the last line.
In the last line, mu is the attributive of the conjectural: "must I sleep alone?" Answering the ya of the fourth line, it closes in lament for sleeping alone. Where "is he sleeping alone?" in poem 59 of this book imagined a traveling husband's solitary night, this poem speaks of the traveler's own, and the two form a pair.
Author: Emperor Monmu (attributed)
Source: Manyoshu
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