Waga ōkimi ame shirasamu to omowaneba ō ni zo mikeru Wazuka somayama

我が大君天知らさむと思はねば
おほにぞ見ける和束杣山

Roma-ji: Waga ōkimi ame shirasamu to omowaneba ō ni zo mikeru Wazuka somayama
English Translation: Our great lord and prince—
that he would go to rule the heavens
I never once thought,
and so I looked but idly
on the timber hills of Wazuka.
Meaning: Never thinking that our prince would pass away to rule the heavens, I looked on the timber hills of Wazuka with careless eyes.
Commentary: Book Three Elegies 476

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Six poems composed by the palace attendant Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi on the death of Prince Asaka in the second month of spring, Tenpyō 16, the year kinoe-saru" — "Envoy"
This is the first envoy to a long poem mourning Prince Asaka. Never imagining that the prince would die, he had looked casually on the timber hills of Wazuka where the prince now lies—shock and regret at his sudden death. The left note to the next poem says these three were composed on the third day of the second month.
This belongs to a sequence of elegies composed by Ōtomo no Yakamochi, then a palace attendant, when Prince Asaka, son of Emperor Shōmu, died suddenly at seventeen in the spring of Tenpyō 16 (744). The prince was buried in the Wazuka hills near the Kuni capital.
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. At the time of Prince Asaka's death he was serving him as a palace attendant.

First line "Our great lord and prince" refers to Prince Asaka; the line has one syllable too many.
Second line "that he would go to rule the heavens": ame shirasu is a euphemism for the death of a prince.
Third line "I never once thought" means he did not expect it.
Fourth line "and so I looked but idly": ō ni means carelessly; zo is a binding particle concluded by keru.
Fifth line "on the timber hills of Wazuka": Wazuka lay in Yamashiro near the Kuni capital, and somayama are hills where timber is cut. It ends on a noun, naming the hills where the prince lies.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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