Tsunosahau Iware mo sugizu Hatsuseyama itsu ka mo koemu yo wa fukenitsutsu

つのさはふ磐余も過ぎず泊瀬山
いつかも越えむ夜は更けにつつ

Roma-ji: Tsunosahau Iware mo sugizu Hatsuseyama itsu ka mo koemu yo wa fukenitsutsu
English Translation: Rock-crowned, it is said,
Iware not yet left behind,
and Hatsuse's peak—
when shall I cross over it?
The night grows ever deeper.
Meaning: I have not even passed Iware yet—when will I cross the mountains of Hatsuse? And all the while the night grows later.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 282

Headnote: "A poem by Kasuga no Kurabito Oyu"
On a journey east from Iware in Yamato over Hatsuse, the poet frets that his way makes little progress though the night deepens. He has not even passed Iware, so when will he cross the mountain of Hatsuse beyond? The poem conveys a traveler's unease hurrying along a night road.
The poet, Kasuga no Oyu, was originally a monk named Benki; in Taihō 1 (701) he returned to lay life and was given the name Kasuga no Kurabito Oyu. He later served as Assistant Governor of Hitachi, among other posts.

First line "Rock-crowned, it is said" renders tsunosahau, a pillow word for Iware and for "rock."
Second line "Iware not yet left behind": Iware lay in Yamato, from western Sakurai to eastern Kashihara. The sentence breaks here.
Third line "and Hatsuse's peak": the mountains around Hatsuse, east of Iware, in present-day Hase, Sakurai.
Fourth line "when shall I cross over it": ka is an interrogative binding particle concluded by the attributive of mu.
Fifth line "The night grows ever deeper": tsutsu expresses continuation, ending in anxious haste.
Author: Kasuga no Oyu
Source: Manyoshu
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