Yamatoji no kibi no kojima o sugite yukaba tsukushi no kojima omōemu kamo

大和道の吉備の児島を過ぎて行かば
筑紫の児島思ほえむかも

Roma-ji: Yamatoji no kibi no kojima o sugite yukaba tsukushi no kojima omōemu kamo
English Translation: On Yamato's road,
past Kojima there in Kibi
if I go my way,
Kojima of Tsukushi
will surely come to my mind
Meaning: When I pass Kojima in Kibi on the road to Yamato, I shall surely find myself thinking of Kojima of Tsukushi.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 967

Headnote: "Two poems composed in reply by Lord Ōtomo, the Major Counselor"
The poem says that when he passes Kojima in Kibi on his way to Yamato, he will surely think of Kojima of Tsukushi. It is the first of two poems in which Ōtomo no Tabito, leaving the Dazaifu, answered the two poems (965 and 966) of the wandering entertainer Kojima who saw him off.
This is a witty poem that lays the woman's name, Kojima, over the place name Kojima in Kibi, which he will pass on his way back to the capital. By replying that every time he passes the place of the same name he will remember the Kojima of Tsukushi, he gently receives her lament at parting and conveys that he will not forget her. Kojima in Kibi corresponds to the present Kojima Peninsula in Okayama Prefecture, which in ancient times was an island in the sea.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was the son of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and the father of Yakamochi. Toward the end of the Jinki era he went down to Tsukushi as Governor-General of the Dazaifu, and in the twelfth month of Tenpyō 2 (730) he was appointed Major Counselor and returned to the capital. He died the following year, in the seventh month of Tenpyō 3 (731), as a Major Counselor of the Junior Second Rank.

This poem answers the opening "The road to Yamato" of the preceding poem, 966, with the same words, making the call and response of the exchange plain. It also sets "Kojima there in Kibi" in the second line against "Kojima of Tsukushi" in the fourth, overlapping the place name and the personal name.
The first line, "On Yamato's road," means the road to Yamato and takes up the opening of the woman's poem directly.
The second line, "past Kojima there in Kibi," refers to Kojima in the province of Kibi on the Inland Sea. It is a place on his voyage back to the capital, and it carries the same name as the woman, Kojima.
The third line, "if I go my way," means "if I pass on by." "-ba" attached to the irrealis form expresses a supposition about the journey that lies ahead. The line has an extra syllable.
The fourth line, "Kojima of Tsukushi," points to the woman Kojima in Tsukushi. It pairs with "Kojima there in Kibi" in the second line and is the heart of the device that turns a place name into a person's name.
The final line, "will surely come to my mind," means "I shall surely find myself remembering." "Omooyu" means to come to mind of itself, "mu" expresses conjecture, and "kamo" is exclamatory. By saying he will remember without even trying, he shows the depth of his feeling at parting.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito
Source: Manyoshu
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