Sashisuki no kurusu no ono no hagi no hana chiramu toki ni shi yukite tamukemu

指進の栗栖の小野の萩の花
散らむ時にし行きて手向けむ

Roma-ji: Sashisuki no kurusu no ono no hagi no hana chiramu toki ni shi yukite tamukemu
English Translation: At Sashisuki's
Kurusu, on the little moor,
the bush clover blooms—
when the time comes for them to fall,
then I shall go and make offerings
Meaning: When the bush clover flowers on the little moor of Kurusu begin to fall, then I shall go and make offerings to the gods.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 970

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems composed by Lord Ōtomo, the Major Counselor, thinking of his old home while at his house in Nara, in the third year, the year of kanoto-hitsuji"
The poem resolves that when the bush clover flowers on the little moor of Kurusu begin to fall, he will surely go to his old home and make offerings to the gods. It is the second of two poems that Ōtomo no Tabito composed at his house in Nara in Tenpyō 3 (731), thinking of his old home. Where the preceding poem, 969, wished to go and see it at once, this poem fixes a time, the autumn when the bush clover falls, and states his intention to visit.
"Tamuke," making offerings, means presenting cloth offerings and the like to the gods of the road or of a place and praying to them; the poem holds his wish to pay his respects to the gods of his old home. Tabito died in the seventh month of that year, and it is not known whether his wish to go when the bush clover fell was ever fulfilled.
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.
The original characters of the first line, "指進乃," form a notoriously difficult passage whose reading has not been settled, and the kana reading leaves it blank. Here the text follows the kundoku reading "指進の," and the romanization follows the reading "sashisuki no" of the Kan'ei printed edition, giving "Sashisuki no." The location of Kurusu is also unknown.

With the preceding poem, 969, this poem forms a pair: both use "go" to express the wish to visit the old home. While "if only for a while" in the preceding poem is a present wish, "when the time comes for them to fall" in this poem fixes a later season, the falling of the bush clover in autumn, so that the two contrast in their sense of time.
The first line, "At Sashisuki's," is a phrase whose reading is uncertain. The Kan'ei edition reads it "sashisuki no," apparently a word leading into "Kurusu," but its meaning is unclear.
The second line, "Kurusu, on the little moor," means the moor at a place called Kurusu. The "o" of "ono" is a prefix that smooths the rhythm. It seems to be a place near his old home, but its location is uncertain.
The third line, "the bush clover blooms," names the flower most representative of autumn. He pictures the bush clover blooming on the moor of his old home and indicates the season of his visit.
The fourth line, "when the time comes for them to fall," means "at the very time they will fall," with "shi" an emphatic particle. That he chooses not the height of bloom but the time of falling suggests an intention to fix the season for the offerings.
The final line, "then I shall go and make offerings," expresses will through "mu." Like "I would go and see it" in the preceding poem, it begins with "go," and it strengthens the wording from a wish to a resolve.
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Shimashiku mo yukite miteshika kamunabi no fuchi wa asenite se ni ka naruramu
Next Poem: Chiyorozu no ikusa naritomo kotoage sezu torite kinubeki onoko zo omou