Masurao no tomo no oto su nari mononofu no ōmaetsukimi tate tatsu rashi mo

ますらをの鞆の音すなり物部の
大臣盾立つらしも

Roma-ji: Masurao no tomo no oto su nari mononofu no ōmaetsukimi tate tatsu rashi mo
English Translation: The warriors' guards—
I hear them twanging loudly;
it seems the great lord
of the Mononofu has set
the shields in rows for the rite.
Meaning: I hear the twang of the warriors' wrist guards—it seems the Minister of the Mononobe is setting up the shields for the ceremony.
Commentary: Book One Miscellaneous Poems 76

Headnote: "The first year of Wadō, tsuchinoe-saru: a poem by the Empress"
In the year of her accession, hearing the twang of the warriors' wrist guards, the Empress surmises that the Minister of the Mononobe is setting up shields for the ceremony. Catching by sound the progress of preparations for rites of accession, it reveals her tension before the heavy duties of the throne. It is thought to date from the Daijōsai, the great thanksgiving of accession, in 708, the first year of Wadō. The next poem, 77, is Princess Minabe's response to it.
Empress Genmei, whose personal name was Princess Ahe, was a daughter of Emperor Tenji. Consort of Prince Kusakabe and mother of Emperor Monmu, she took the throne after Monmu's death and in 710, the third year of Wadō, moved the capital to Heijō.

The first line, "of the brave men," refers to the warriors serving at the ceremony. It is the same as the first line of poem 61 in this book.
In the second line, tomo is a leather guard worn on the left wrist when shooting, which makes a sound when struck by the bowstring, and nari is an auxiliary of inference from sound: "I hear the sound of the guards." The poem breaks here. Like "I hear the sound of the bow's notch" in the long poem 3 of this book, it imagines an unseen ceremony or hunt through the sound of the bow.
The third line, mononofu no, refers to the court's warriors or to the Mononobe clan, modifying the minister of the fourth line.
The fourth line, read ōmaetsukimi, "great minister," is thought to refer to Isonokami no Maro, descended from the Mononobe.
In the last line, tate tatsu means to set shields in rows for a ceremony, rashi is an inference from evidence, and mo exclamatory: "it seems they are setting up the shields." On the evidence of the sound in the second line, she imagines the scene of the rite.
Author: Empress Genmei
Source: Manyoshu
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