Momoka shimo yukanu matsuraji kyō yukite asu wa kinamu o nani ka sayareru

百日しも行かぬ松浦道今日行きて
明日は来なむを何か障れる

Roma-ji: Momoka shimo yukanu matsuraji kyō yukite asu wa kinamu o nani ka sayareru
English Translation: Not a hundred days
is the road to Matsura;
if I went today
I could be back tomorrow —
what is it that holds me here?
Meaning: The road to Matsura does not take a hundred days; I could go today and be back tomorrow. What is it that holds me back?
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 870

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Okura, in awe and with bowed head, respectfully addresses you"
The poet laments that the road to Matsura is not one of a hundred days, yet something prevents him from going, though he could return the next day. Hinting at his inability to leave his post as Governor of Chikuzen, it closes the three poems.
In the letter of the headnote, Okura writes that he has heard that governors and the Governor-General tour their jurisdictions according to law to observe local customs, and that because the many thoughts in his heart are hard to speak aloud, he wishes respectfully to relieve the gloom within through three poems. They are thought to lament that Okura could not accompany Tabito when he toured Matsura. The left note says they were respectfully presented by Yamanoue no Okura, provincial governor of Chikuzen, on the eleventh day of the seventh month of Tenpyō 2.
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, "momoka shimo": "a hundred days," with "shi" and "mo" adding emphasis.
Second line, "yukanu Matsuraji": "the road to Matsura that does not take a hundred days."
Third line, "kyō yukite": "setting out today."
Fourth line, "asu wa kinamu o": "I could be back tomorrow, yet," turning with the adversative "o."
Fifth line, "nani ka sayareru": the particle "ka" is resolved by "sayareru": what is it that hinders me? It closes on the frustration of not being able to go.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
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