Momozutau Iware no ike ni naku kamo o kyō nomi mite ya kumogakurinamu

百伝ふ磐余の池に鳴く鴨を
今日のみ見てや雲隠りなむ

Roma-ji: Momozutau Iware no ike ni naku kamo o kyō nomi mite ya kumogakurinamu
English Translation: Handed down a hundredfold,
on the pond of Iware
the wild ducks crying—
seeing them just this one day,
shall I vanish in the clouds?
Meaning: The wild ducks crying on the pond of Iware—am I to see them only this one last day, and then vanish behind the clouds?
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 416

Headnote: "A poem composed in tears by Prince Ōtsu on the embankment of Iware Pond when he was condemned to death"
This is said to be the death poem of Prince Ōtsu, condemned for treason, composed in tears on the embankment of Iware Pond on the day of his execution. Seeing the ducks of the pond he always knew for the last time today, is he now to die? he asks, entrusting to the quiet pond his sorrow at a life cut short so young. A left note dates it to the tenth month of winter in the first year of Shuchō at the Fujiwara palace (686). His death poem in Chinese is also preserved in the Kaifūsō.
The poet, Prince Ōtsu, was a son of Emperor Tenmu; his mother was Princess Ōta, a daughter of Emperor Tenji. Gifted in letters and arms, he won wide esteem, but after Tenmu's death he was condemned to die for treason.

First line "Handed down a hundredfold" renders momozutau, a pillow word for Iware.
Second line "on the pond of Iware": a pond at Iware in Yamato, between present-day Sakurai and Kashihara, Nara.
Third line "the wild ducks crying" names the ducks.
Fourth line "seeing them just this one day": nomi limits and ya is an interrogative binding particle, concluded by mu at the end.
Fifth line "shall I vanish in the clouds": kumogakuru, "to hide in the clouds," is a euphemism for the death of a noble; na is perfective and mu conjectural.
Author: Prince Ōtsu
Source: Manyoshu
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