Mikasayama nobe yuku michi wa kokidaku mo shigeku aretaru ka hisa ni aranaku ni

御笠山野辺行く道はこきだくも
繁く荒れたるか久にあらなくに

Roma-ji: Mikasayama nobe yuku michi wa kokidaku mo shigeku aretaru ka hisa ni aranaku ni
English Translation: On Mount Mikasa,
the path that winds through the fields,
how it has grown wild,
so thick with weeds and ruined—
though it has not been so long.
Meaning: How thick with weeds and wild the path through the fields of Mount Mikasa has grown, though so little time has passed.
Commentary: Book Two Elegies 232

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems composed in the ninth month, autumn, of the first year of Reiki, the year kinoto-u, at the time of the death of Prince Shiki, two short poems"
The path across the fields at Mount Mikasa has grown so thick with weeds, though so little time has passed since the prince's death; the poem voices surprise and grief at how the masterless road has changed.
These are elegies on the death of Prince Shiki in the ninth month of the first year of Reiki (715). The long poem 230 mourns him by asking whether the funeral torches burning on Mount Takamato are a fire set to burn the fields. Prince Shiki was a son of Emperor Tenji and the father of the later Emperor Kōnin. This is the second of the two short poems appended to that long poem, and its author is taken to be Kasa no Kanamura on the basis of the left note.
The author, Kasa no Kanamura, was a court poet of the reigns of Empress Genshō and Emperor Shōmu who composed many poems while attending imperial excursions.

The first line, "mikasayama," is a mountain at Kasuga in Nara, adjoining Mount Takamato to the north.
The second line, "nobe yuku michi wa," means "the road that goes through the fields," recalling the road to the prince's palace.
The third line, "kokidaku mo," means "to such an extent."
The fourth line, "shigeku aretaru ka," means "has it grown so overgrown and wild?" and is hypermetric, with eight syllables. The poem pauses here.
In the final line, "hisa ni aranaku ni," naku ni means "though it is not": though it has not been long, setting the shortness of time against the swiftness of decay.
Author: Kasa no Kanamura
Source: Manyoshu
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