Koto towanu ki ni wa ari tomo uruwashiki kimi ga tanare no koto ni shi aru beshi

言とはぬ木にはありともうるはしき
君が手馴れの琴にしあるべし

Roma-ji: Koto towanu ki ni wa ari tomo uruwashiki kimi ga tanare no koto ni shi aru beshi
English Translation: Though you are a tree
that has never spoken words,
you shall surely be
the zither worn by the hands
of a lord of noble grace
Meaning: Though you are only a tree that cannot speak, you will surely become a zither cherished in the hands of a noble lord.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 811

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "I replied to her song, saying"
The poet answers the zither maiden that though she is a tree without speech, she will surely become a zither cherished by a noble lord. In replying to her wish, he conveys his confidence that the recipient, Fujiwara no Fusasaki, will treasure it.
The left note says the zither maiden answered that she humbly received his gracious words and was most fortunate, at which point he awoke; moved by the words of the dream and unable to remain silent, he was sending the zither by an official messenger. It takes the form of a letter dated the seventh day of the tenth month of Tenpyō 1 and addressed to the head of the Inner Palace Guards, for the zither was a gift to Fujiwara no Fusasaki, then Commander of those guards.
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, "koto towanu": "that does not speak," the nature of the wood from which the zither is made.
Second line, "ki ni wa ari tomo": "tomo" is a concessive, "even though you are a tree."
Third line, "uruwashiki": "noble and fine," praising the lord.
Fourth line, "kimi ga tanare no": worn smooth by his hands, the zither lovingly used.
Fifth line, "koto ni shi aru beshi": "shi" is emphatic and "beshi" confident conjecture: surely it will be so, he encourages the zither maiden. Fusasaki's reply, 812, takes up the first and fourth lines of this poem almost word for word.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito
Source: Manyoshu
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