Kimi ga yuki ke nagaku narinu yamatazu no mukae o yukamu matsu ni wa mataji

君が行き日長くなりぬ山たづの
迎へを行かむ待つには待たじ

Roma-ji: Kimi ga yuki ke nagaku narinu yamatazu no mukae o yukamu matsu ni wa mataji
English Translation: Since you went away
the days have grown long indeed—
as the yamatazu,
I shall go out to meet you;
wait, no, I will wait no more.
Meaning: Many days have passed since you went away. I will go out to meet you; I will not wait any longer.
Commentary: Book Two Love Poems 90

Headnote: "The Kojiki says: Prince Karu seduced Princess Karu no Ōiratsume, and for this the Prince was banished to the hot springs of Iyo. At that time Princess Sotoori, unable to bear her longing, followed after him and sang"
Unable to wait any longer for her banished lover, the speaker resolves to go and meet him, declaring that she will wait no more.
Citing the Kojiki, the headnote says that Prince Karu was exiled to the hot springs of Iyo for his affair with his full sister Karu no Ōiratsume, and that this is the song Princess Sotoori sang when, overcome by longing, she followed him.
The author, Princess Sotoori, was a daughter of Emperor Ingyō, also known as Karu no Ōiratsume. Tradition says she was so called because her beauty shone through her robes.
A left note records that the Kojiki and the Ruijū karin differ in both content and author, and after citing the Nihon shoki's accounts of Emperors Nintoku and Ingyō, concludes that the poem appears in neither reign.
The first and second lines are the same as those of 85, the opening poem of this book. From the fourth line on, however, the hesitant "shall I go to meet you, or wait and wait" becomes the decisive "I will go to meet you; I will not wait," so the two form an inverted pair of doubt and resolve.

The first line, "kimi ga yuki," is the same as that of 85, but here it refers to the journey of the banished Prince Karu.
The second line, "ke nagaku narinu," is also identical to 85, closing with the perfective nu and pausing after the second line.
The third line, "yamatazu no," is a pillow word for mukae, "meeting." Yamatazu is an old name for the elder tree, said to fit because its leaves grow facing one another. It also sounds close to "yama tazune" in 85.
In the fourth line, "mukae o yukamu," mu expresses intention: she decides to go and meet him.
In the final line, "matsu ni wa mataji," ji is the negative volitional, a firm refusal to wait any longer. It reverses "machi ni ka matamu" in 85.
Author: Princess Sotoori
Source: Manyoshu
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