Mano no ura no yodo no tsugihashi kokoro yu mo omoe ya imo ga ime ni shi miyuru

真野の浦の淀の継橋心ゆも
思へや妹が夢にし見ゆる

Roma-ji: Mano no ura no yodo no tsugihashi kokoro yu mo omoe ya imo ga ime ni shi miyuru
English Translation: At the bay of Mano,
the plank bridge across the pool,
from the very heart
is it that she thinks of me,
that my love appears in dreams
Meaning: Like the plank bridge that runs unbroken across the still pool at the bay of Mano, is it because she thinks of me from the depths of her heart that my beloved keeps appearing in my dreams?
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 490

Headnote: "Two poems by Fufuki no Toji"
Using the plank bridge over the still pool at the bay of Mano as a preface, this poem sings of a loved one appearing in dreams. Following the belief of the time that one who thinks deeply of you appears in your dreams, the speaker rejoices, wondering whether his beloved shows herself in dreams because she thinks of him from the depths of her heart. Since a woman author says "my beloved," the poem is thought to be one she recited in a man's voice, or one that gently mocks a man's fickleness.
The author, Fufuki no Toji, is a woman of whom little is known. Toji is a respectful term for the mistress of a household or an older woman, and she is said to have served Princess Tōchi.

First line, "At the bay of Mano," names an inlet placed either at Mano in Settsu, near today's Nagata Ward in Kōbe, or at Mano in Ōmi. It opens with an extra syllable.
Second line, "the plank bridge across the pool," is a bridge made by laying planks one after another over still water. Because the bridge runs on unbroken, it joins the first line to form a preface introducing what follows.
Third line, "from the very heart," uses yu, an old particle of origin, meaning from the bottom of the heart; taking up the unbroken bridge, it expresses a longing without a break.
Fourth line, "is it that she thinks of me," joins the perfective form to the particle ya to pose a questioning condition: is it because she thinks of me? The ya construction is closed by miyuru in the fifth line.
Fifth line, "that my love appears in dreams," stresses "dreams" with shi and ends in the attributive form required by ya, receiving the dream as a sign of her love.
Author: Fufuki no Toji
Source: Manyoshu
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