Onoko ya mo munashiku arubeki yorozuyo ni kataritsugubeki na wa tatezu shite

士やも空しくあるべき万代に
語り継ぐべき名は立てずして

Roma-ji: Onoko ya mo munashiku arubeki yorozuyo ni kataritsugubeki na wa tatezu shite
English Translation: Should a man like me
come to nothing, void and vain—
through ten thousand years
to be told from age to age,
leaving not a name behind?
Meaning: Should a man end his life in vain, without having made a name to be handed down through ten thousand generations?
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 978

Headnote: "A poem by Yamanoue no Omi Okura when he lay gravely ill"
The poem laments: born a man, should one end one's life in vain without making a name to be told through ten thousand generations? According to the headnote, it was composed when Yamanoue no Okura lay gravely ill.
The left note tells that when Okura was on his sickbed, Fujiwara no Yatsuka sent Kawabe no Azumahito to ask after his illness. When Okura had finished giving his answer, after a while he wiped away his tears, sighed in grief, and recited this poem. Facing death in old age, Okura frankly pours out his regret at not having left a name to later ages, and the poem is regarded as a work of his very last days. It is known as a poem that clearly shows the belief that making a name was a man's duty.
The poet, Yamanoue no Okura, went to Tang China in Taihō 2 (702) as a junior secretary of the embassy, and after his return served as governor of Hōki and of Chikuzen, among other posts. While governor of Chikuzen he associated closely with Ōtomo no Tabito, Governor-General of the Dazaifu, and left many poems. He is thought to have died around Tenpyō 5 (733).

The word "man" (onoko) in the first line, like "such a man I hold him to be" at the end of 972, denotes a man, and it resonates with "man of valor" in 968 and 974. Where those poems praised and admonished men setting out on their duties, this poem sings of the grief of a man who, facing death, could not make his name, presenting the same theme in reversed form.
The first line, "Should a man like me," means "should one who is a man." "Ya mo" expresses a rhetorical question and is resolved by "arubeki" in the second line.
The second line, "come to nothing, void and vain," means "should he end in vain? Surely not," a rhetorical question answering "ya mo" in the first line. The sense breaks here, after the second line, and the line has an extra syllable.
The third line, "through ten thousand years," means "until ten thousand years hence," indicating how long a name is to be handed down.
The fourth line, "to be told from age to age," means "worthy to be handed down," and modifies "name" in the next line.
The final line, "leaving not a name behind?" means "without having made a name." In inverted order it supplies afterward the reason for "come to nothing" in the second line, closing the poem on his regret at not having made his name.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura
Source: Manyoshu
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