Tsukubane o yoso nomi mitsutsu arikanete yukige no michi o nazumi keru kamo

筑波嶺を外のみ見つつありかねて
雪消の道をなづみ来るかも

Roma-ji: Tsukubane o yoso nomi mitsutsu arikanete yukige no michi o nazumi keru kamo
English Translation: Mount Tsukuba's peak—
only gazing from afar,
no more could I bear,
and along the thawing path
I have struggled up to here.
Meaning: Unable to bear only gazing from afar at Mount Tsukuba, I have toiled up here along the muddy road of melting snow.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 383

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem with tanka composed by Tajihi no Mahito Kunihito on climbing Mount Tsukuba" — "Envoy"
This is the envoy to a long poem on climbing Mount Tsukuba. No longer able to bear merely gazing at it from afar, he has struggled up the mountain path, muddy with melting snow—longing for Mount Tsukuba and the joy of the climb. Tsukuba had long been known as a mountain for surveying the land, and the poem praises its form.
The poet, Tajihi no Kunihito, was a Nara-period official who served as Governor of Tōtōmi and in other posts; implicated in the conspiracy of Tachibana no Naramaro in Tenpyō Shōhō 9 (757), he was exiled to Izu.

First line "Mount Tsukuba's peak" is Mount Tsukuba in Hitachi.
Second line "only gazing from afar": yoso means a place apart.
Third line "no more could I bear" means being unable to stay as he was.
Fourth line "and along the thawing path": yukige is melting snow.
Fifth line "I have struggled up to here": nazumu means to toil and be hindered.
Author: Tajihi no Kunihito
Source: Manyoshu
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