Hisakata no amaji wa tōshi naonao ni ie ni kaerite nari o shimasa ni

ひさかたの天道は遠しなほなほに
家に帰りて業を為まさに

Roma-ji: Hisakata no amaji wa tōshi naonao ni ie ni kaerite nari o shimasa ni
English Translation: Far off and distant
is the road up to the heavens;
meekly, as you should,
go back home to your own house
and set yourself to your work
Meaning: The road to heaven is far away. Go meekly back home and devote yourself to your work.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 801

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem to turn back a misguided heart, with preface: envoy"
The poem admonishes that the road to heaven is far, so one should go meekly home and work at one's livelihood. It sums up briefly what the long poem says in rebuking a man who would abandon worldly life.
The preface describes a man who knows he should honor his parents yet neglects to care for them, who thinks less of his wife and children than of a cast-off sandal, and who calls himself "Master Beyond-the-World," his spirit soaring above the blue clouds while his body remains in the dusty world. He is no sage who has attained the Way through practice, only a vagrant fled into the hills and marshes; so the poet sets out the Three Bonds and Five Teachings and seeks through song to turn his deluded heart. The left note says it was composed in Kama District on the twenty-first day of the seventh month of Jinki 5, and it is seen as Okura, touring his province as Governor of Chikuzen, instructing the people from a Confucian standpoint.
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, "hisakata no": a pillow word for heaven.
Second line, "amaji wa tōshi": the path to heaven as an immortal is far and hard to reach; the poem breaks after this line, which answers the long poem's "if you would go to heaven, go as you please."
Third line, "naonao ni": "meekly, obediently," giving the tone of admonition.
Fourth line, "ie ni kaerite": urges the man who left wife and children to return to his former life.
Fifth line, "nari o shimasa ni": "nari" is one's livelihood, such as farming. "Masa" is a form of the honorific "masu" and "ni" a particle of wish; the poem ends by urging him, respectfully, to apply himself.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
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