Kimi ga ie ni waga sumisaka no ieji o mo ware wa wasureji inochi shinazu wa

君が家に我が住坂の家道をも
我れは忘れじ命死なずは

Roma-ji: Kimi ga ie ni waga sumisaka no ieji o mo ware wa wasureji inochi shinazu wa
English Translation: To your house, my lord,
I came to live; Sumisaka,
and the homeward path,
never will I forget them
while my life has not yet ended
Meaning: Sumisaka, whose name recalls how I came to live in your house, and the road that led home there, I will never forget as long as I live.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 504

Headnote: "A poem by the wife of Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro"
Hitomaro's wife vows never, while she lives, to forget the road over Sumisaka leading to her husband's house. Playing on "I came to live (sumu) in your house" and the place name Sumisaka, she pours in her deep feeling for the days they shared. The poem is considered difficult; some read it as joy at coming to live in his house, others as fond remembrance after they had parted.
The author, the wife of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, is a woman whose name has not come down. Hitomaro is thought to have had more than one wife, and which of them wrote this poem is unclear.

First line, "To your house, my lord," means to your house and leads to sumu, "to live," in the second line.
Second line, "I came to live; Sumisaka," plays on "I live" and the place name Sumisaka, a slope thought to have been in Uda District of Yamato; the first two lines work as a preface leading to the name.
Third line, "and the homeward path," means the road toward the house as well; mo, "also," carries the sense of the days she spent with her husband alongside it.
Fourth line, "never will I forget them," uses ji, the auxiliary of negative intention: I will surely not forget. The poem breaks after this line.
Fifth line, "while my life has not yet ended," means so long as my life lasts, zu wa expressing a negative condition. By inversion it names how long she will remember, strengthening the vow.
Author: The Wife of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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