Miyoshino no akizu no kawa no yorozuyo ni tayuru koto naku mata kaerimimu

み吉野の秋津の川の万代に
絶ゆることなくまたかへり見む

Roma-ji: Miyoshino no akizu no kawa no yorozuyo ni tayuru koto naku mata kaerimimu
English Translation: Of fair Yoshino,
like the river at Akizu,
for ten thousand ages
never ceasing, I will come
to look upon it once again
Meaning: Like the river flowing past Akizu in fair Yoshino, never ceasing for ten thousand ages, I will come back again and again to look upon this place.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 911

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "An envoy in a certain book reads"
This poem vows to return again and again, unceasing for ten thousand ages, like the river flowing past Akizu in fair Yoshino. It is the second of the three poems that another book attached as envoys to the long poem 907, composed on Empress Genshō's progress to Yoshino in the fifth month of Yōrō 7 (723).
By overlaying the ever-flowing river with the continuation of the imperial progresses and declaring that the poet will return again and again, the poem celebrates the long reign of the sovereign. Its lower verse, "never ceasing, I will come to see it once again," is identical to that of Kakinomoto no Hitomaro's envoy to his Yoshino poem, Book One, 37, "Though I gaze I never tire of the Yoshino River's smooth rocks; never ceasing, I will come to see it once again," and the poem places itself in the tradition of Yoshino praise by building on Hitomaro's precedent.
"Envoys from a certain book" means envoys handed down in another text; the three poems 910 to 912 belong to this group. Apart from the two envoys in the main text, the compiler also recorded these poems, which had come down attached to the same long poem.
The poet, Kasa no Kanamura, was a court poet of the early Nara period who accompanied the sovereigns from Empress Genshō to Emperor Shōmu on their progresses and left many poems of praise. Together with Yamabe no Akahito, he is regarded as a representative poet of the age.

The phrase "for ten thousand ages" in this poem shares its wording with the first line of 921 in this book, "For ten thousand ages, could one ever tire," and on the Yoshino progress of Jinki 2 as well the poet voices the wish for permanence with the same words.
In the first line, "Of fair Yoshino," the prefix "mi-" is an honorific that speaks of Yoshino with reverence.
The second line, "the river at Akizu," refers to the Yoshino River where it flows past Akizu, site of the detached palace. It takes up "the Akitsu palace of fair Yoshino" in the long poem, and the particle "no" works as a comparison, meaning "like," leading into "never ceasing."
The third line, "for ten thousand ages," means "even ten thousand years hence," overlaying the eternity of the river's flow with the continuation of the progresses.
The fourth line, "never ceasing," speaks in one breath of the unbroken flow of the river and the unbroken return of the poet. It is the same line as in Hitomaro's poem 37.
The final line, "I will come to see it once again," means "I will return here and look upon it again," with "mu" as an auxiliary of intention. The poem closes by stating the wish for permanence as the poet's own resolve.
Author: Kasa no Kanamura
Source: Manyoshu
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