Kuyashi kamo kaku shiramaseba aoniyoshi kunuchi kotogoto misemashi mono o

悔しかもかく知らませばあをによし
国内ことごと見せましものを

Roma-ji: Kuyashi kamo kaku shiramaseba aoniyoshi kunuchi kotogoto misemashi mono o
English Translation: Oh, how I regret!
Had I but known it would be so,
blue-earthed and lovely,
all the land from end to end
I would have shown to her
Meaning: How I regret it! Had I known this would happen, I would have shown her every corner of the land.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 797

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "An elegy in Japanese: envoy"
The poet regrets that, had he known his wife would die so soon, he would have shown her every part of the land. Regret is stated outright in the first line, and the counterfactual "maseba ... mashi" voices painfully a wish that can no longer be fulfilled.
This is the third of five envoys attached to the "Elegy in Japanese." The elegy is preceded by a Chinese preface and Chinese poem that cite Buddhist scripture at length on the impermanence of all living things and the grief of losing a wife; the long poem is called an "Elegy in Japanese" as the native-language counterpart to them. The left note says it was presented by Yamanoue no Okura, Governor of Chikuzen, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month of Jinki 5, and it is generally held that Okura composed it in the voice of Ōtomo no Tabito, Governor-General of Dazaifu, mourning the death of Tabito's wife.
The poet, Yamanoue no Okura, was an official who went to Tang China as a junior secretary with the embassy appointed in Taihō 1. After his return he served as Governor of Hōki and in the household of the Crown Prince, and late in the Jinki era he was posted to Tsukushi as Governor of Chikuzen. He is known for poems rooted in everyday life, on the sufferings of human existence, love for family, and poverty, written against a background of learning in Chinese classics and Buddhist scripture.

First line, "kuyashi kamo": the final particle "kamo" exclaims, and the poem breaks after this first line of regret.
Second line, "kaku shiramaseba": "mase" is a form of the counterfactual "mashi": "had I known beforehand it would be so."
Third line, "aoniyoshi": a pillow word usually attached to Nara, here to "kunuchi," lending a sense of praise for a beautiful land.
Fourth line, "kunuchi kotogoto": "kotogoto" means every part. "Kunuchi" is read either as the whole of Tsukushi or as the land of Yamato centered on Nara.
Fifth line, "misemashi mono o": the counterfactual answers "maseba" in the second line, and "mono o" adds a note of rueful exclamation, leaving the unfulfilled wish to linger.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
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