Yakumo sasu Izumo no kora ga kurokami wa Yoshino no kawa no oki ni nazusau

八雲さす出雲の子らが黒髪は
吉野の川の沖になづさふ

Roma-ji: Yakumo sasu Izumo no kora ga kurokami wa Yoshino no kawa no oki ni nazusau
English Translation: Of eightfold clouds' land,
the maiden of Izumo—
her long, jet-black hair
in the Yoshino River
floats and drifts upon the stream.
Meaning: The black hair of the Izumo girl floats and drifts out in the middle of the Yoshino River.
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 430

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems composed by Kakinomoto no Ason Hitomaro when the Izumo maiden, who had drowned, was cremated at Yoshino"
This is the second of the two poems mourning the Izumo maiden. The black hair of the drowned girl floats on the current of the Yoshino River—her grievous young death drawn as a figure both beautiful and sad. Where the preceding poem saw the cremation smoke as mist, this one pictures her as she drowned, so the two poems capture her death from both sky and water.
Hitomaro's two poems on the cremation at Yoshino of the Izumo maiden, who had drowned, form a sequence that overlays her name, Izumo ("cloud-rising"), with clouds, and remembers her in the mist of Yoshino and in her black hair drifting on the river.
The poet, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was a court poet active from the reign of Jitō to that of Monmu. Master of both long and short poems, he was later revered as the "Saint of Poetry." His rank was low, and much of his life remains obscure.

First line "Of eightfold clouds' land" renders yakumo sasu, a pillow word for Izumo.
Second line "the maiden of Izumo" refers, as in the preceding poem, to the girl.
Third line "her long, jet-black hair" symbolizes her youth and beauty.
Fourth line "in the Yoshino River": set against "the Yoshino hills" of the preceding poem.
Fifth line "floats and drifts upon the stream": nazusau means to float and drift, ending with her pitiful image.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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