Tatsu no ma mo ima mo eteshika aoniyoshi nara no miyako ni yukite komu tame

竜の馬も今も得てしかあをによし
奈良の都に行きて来むため

Roma-ji: Tatsu no ma mo ima mo eteshika aoniyoshi nara no miyako ni yukite komu tame
English Translation: A dragon horse,
oh, that I had one even now!
Blue-earthed and lovely,
to the capital of Nara
I would go and then come back
Meaning: If only I had a dragon horse right now, so that I could go to the capital at Nara and come back again.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 806

Headnote: "Two poems, by Lord Ōtomo, Governor-General of Dazaifu"
The poet wishes he could obtain at once a dragon horse that gallops through the sky, so that he could go to Nara and return. His longing for the capital from distant Tsukushi is entrusted to a legendary Chinese steed.
The headnote opens with a letter in Chinese. It says that he has humbly received the letter sent to him and fully understood its meaning; that at once he feels a longing like that of lovers parted by the River of Heaven, and grieves like the man who clung to the bridge pillar waiting; and that he can only wish that both the one who left and the one who stayed remain well, and wait for the day the clouds part. The two poems were attached to this reply to a letter from an acquaintance in the capital.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Yasumaro and the father of Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Late in the Jinki era he went down to Tsukushi as Governor-General of Dazaifu, returned to the capital in Tenpyō 2 as Major Counselor, and died the following year. Versed in Chinese letters and Daoist thought, he formed a literary circle at Dazaifu with Yamanoue no Okura and others, known as the Tsukushi poetic circle.

First line, "tatsu no ma mo": the legendary Chinese steed said to gallop across the sky. The answering poem, 808, opens with the same "dragon horse."
Second line, "ima mo eteshika": "teshika" is a particle of wish, "would that I had it even now." The poem breaks after this line.
Third line, "aoniyoshi": a pillow word for Nara.
Fourth line, "Nara no miyako ni": the capital, the home the poet longs for.
Fifth line, "yukite komu tame": "to go and come back again" to Tsukushi, hinting at a man who cannot leave his post as Governor-General.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito
Source: Manyoshu
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