Tamamori ni tama wa sazukete katsugatsu mo makura to ware wa iza futari nemu

玉守に玉は授けてかつがつも
枕と我れはいざふたり寝む

Roma-ji: Tamamori ni tama wa sazukete katsugatsu mo makura to ware wa iza futari nemu
English Translation: To the jewel's keeper
I have handed my jewel;
now, for the time being,
my pillow and I, come,
let the two of us lie down
Meaning: I have handed my jewel over to its keeper; now, for the time being, come, my pillow and I will sleep together, just the two of us.
Commentary: Book Four Love Poems 652

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue"
Likening a mother who has married off her cherished daughter to one who has handed a jewel to its keeper, she says she will now sleep with her pillow, just the two of them. Some think it was written when Lady Sakanoue gave her daughter, the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue, in marriage to Yakamochi. Loneliness is wrapped in humor.
The author, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. She left many poems in the Man'yōshū and is esteemed as a leading woman poet.

First line, "To the jewel's keeper," names tamamori, the guardian of a jewel, a figure for the daughter's husband.
Second line, "I have handed my jewel," means I have given the jewel, the jewel standing for her beloved daughter.
Third line, "now, for the time being," is katsugatsu mo, "somehow, for now."
Fourth line, "my pillow and I, come," means my pillow and I.
Fifth line, "let the two of us lie down," uses the volitional mu: come, let us two sleep. It closes with the humor of treating the pillow as a companion.
Author: Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Source: Manyoshu
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