Yorozuyo ni mitomo akame ya miyoshino no tagitsu kōchi no ōmiyadokoro

万代に見とも飽かめやみ吉野の
たぎつ河内の大宮所

Roma-ji: Yorozuyo ni mitomo akame ya miyoshino no tagitsu kōchi no ōmiyadokoro
English Translation: For ten thousand ages
could one ever tire of it?
In fair Yoshino,
in the river bend of rushing rapids,
the palace ground
Meaning: Even if I were to gaze on it for ten thousand ages, how could I ever tire of it—this palace ground in the river bend of fair Yoshino, where the rapids rush.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 921

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two envoys"
This poem praises the site of the detached palace in the river bend of fair Yoshino, where the rapids rush, declaring that one could gaze on it for ten thousand ages and never tire. By saying that it can never pall, the poem celebrates the lasting prosperity of this palace ground and the repetition of the imperial progresses.
The long poem immediately before (920) is titled "A poem composed by Kasa no Asomi Kanamura when the Emperor made a progress to the detached palace at Yoshino in the fifth month of summer in the second year of Jinki," and was written while accompanying Emperor Shōmu on his progress to Yoshino in the fifth month of Jinki 2 (725). The long poem praises the scene of plovers and river frogs calling over the clear shallows of the Yoshino River, and closes by praying to the gods of heaven and earth that the place may flourish "thus for ten thousand ages."
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 "could one ever tire of it" is the same as the second line of 937 in this book, praising two different sites of progresses, the palace ground at Yoshino and the beach of Nakisumi, with the same rhetorical question. The phrase "the river bend of the rushing rapids" also shares its words with 908 near the head of the book, "within the pure river bend, the white waves that surge and churn," linking the poems of the two Yoshino progresses of Yōrō 7 and Jinki 2.
The first line, "For ten thousand ages," means "even ten thousand years hence," and takes up the long poem's closing words, "may it be thus for ten thousand ages."
The second line, "could one ever tire of it," is a rhetorical question meaning "even if one gazed on it, would one tire? Never." "Tomo" is a concessive conditional, "me" is the realis form of the conjectural "mu," and "ya" marks the rhetorical question. The sense breaks here, after the second line.
In the third line, "in fair Yoshino," the prefix "mi-" is an honorific that speaks of Yoshino with reverence.
The fourth line, "in the river bend of the rushing rapids," means the land embraced by the swiftly flowing river, and takes up the long poem's "the Yoshino River tumbling and churning."
The final line, "the palace ground," means the place where the detached palace stands, and the poem closes on this noun, naming what is praised. Through inversion, the object of "could one ever tire of it" in the second line is revealed only in the last line.
Author: Kasa no Kanamura
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Waka no ura ni shio michikureba kata o nami ashibe o sashite tazu nakiwataru
Next Poem: Minahito no inochi mo ware mo miyoshino no taki no tokiwa no tsune naranu kamo