Waga katami mitsutsu shinowase aratama no toshi no o nagaku ware mo shinowamu

我が形見見つつ偲はせあらたまの
年の緒長く我れも偲はむ

Roma-ji: Waga katami mitsutsu shinowase aratama no toshi no o nagaku ware mo shinowamu
English Translation: This keepsake of mine,
look on it and think of me;
as the years roll on,
long as the thread of years runs,
I too will remember you
Meaning: Look at this keepsake of mine and remember me; and I too will remember you through the long thread of the years.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 587

Headnote: "Twenty-four poems sent by Lady Kasa to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
This is the first of twenty-four poems Lady Kasa sent to Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Look at my keepsake and remember me, she says, and I too will remember you through the long years; the poem seems to have accompanied a keepsake. Fittingly for the opening of the series, it begins in a calm tone, vowing unchanging love. Her twenty-four poems trace a heart moving from joy through grief to reproach and are celebrated as representative of women's love poetry in the Man'yōshū.
The author, Lady Kasa, was a woman poet of the Nara period who sent many love poems to Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Little else is known of her.

First line, "This keepsake of mine," refers to the object she sent as a token of remembrance.
Second line, "look on it and think of me," uses shinou, "to cherish in memory," with se, the imperative of the honorific su: please look and remember. The poem breaks after this line.
Third line, "as the years roll on," is aratama no, a pillow word for "year."
Fourth line, "long as the thread of years runs," names toshi no o, the years likened to a long thread.
Fifth line, "I too will remember you," uses the volitional mu, answering "think of me" in the second line to show a mutual remembrance.
Author: Lady Kasa
Source: Manyoshu
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