Sahoyama ni tanabiku kasumi miru goto ni imo o omoide nakanu hi wa nashi

佐保山にたなびく霞見るごとに
妹を思ひ出泣かぬ日はなし

Roma-ji: Sahoyama ni tanabiku kasumi miru goto ni imo o omoide nakanu hi wa nashi
English Translation: On Mount Saho there
the mist that trails along it—
every time I look,
I remember my dear wife;
not a day but that I weep.
Meaning: Every time I see the mist trailing over Mount Saho, I remember my wife, and not a day passes without tears.
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 473

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Five more poems composed while grief had not yet ceased"
This is the fourth of the five poems composed while his grief had not yet ceased. Each time he sees the mist trailing over Mount Saho, where his wife lies buried, he remembers her and weeps, not a day without tears. The mist on the mountain, recalling the smoke of cremation, is seen as holding the image of the departed. Mount Saho is the range of hills northeast of the Heijō capital, near which the Ōtomo residence stood.
This belongs to a sequence of elegies that Ōtomo no Yakamochi composed from the sixth month of summer into autumn in Tenpyō 11 (739), mourning his late concubine.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and a Nara-period official. He served as Governor of Etchū and of Inaba, among other posts, rose to Middle Counselor, and died in Enryaku 4 (785). He is thought to have been deeply involved in compiling the Man'yōshū.

First line "On Mount Saho there": the hills northeast of the capital, where his wife was buried.
Second line "the mist that trails along it" recalls the smoke of cremation.
Third line "every time I look" means whenever he sees it.
Fourth line "I remember my dear wife" means thinking of her.
Fifth line "not a day but that I weep" ends in daily sorrow.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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