Ototsui mo kinō mo kyō mo mitsuredomo asu sae mimaku hoshiki kimi kamo

一昨日も昨日も今日も見つれども
明日さへ見まく欲しき君かも

Roma-ji: Ototsui mo kinō mo kyō mo mitsuredomo asu sae mimaku hoshiki kimi kamo
English Translation: The day before last,
yesterday and today too
I have looked on you,
yet even tomorrow I
would see you, my lord, once more
Meaning: The day before yesterday, yesterday, and today I have seen you, and yet you are one I long to see even tomorrow.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 1014

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems from a banquet when the junior minister Tachibana and other gentlemen gathered at the house of Prince Kadobe, President of the Board of Censors, in the first month of spring in the ninth year of Tenpyō, the year hinoto-ushi"
This is a guest's poem in praise of the host, Prince Kadobe: though they have met the day before yesterday, yesterday, and today, the poet still longs to see him again tomorrow. It answers the host's welcome in the preceding poem, "Had I known beforehand that you, my lord, would come," praising him as someone one never tires of meeting.
According to the headnote, these two poems come from a banquet held in the first month of Tenpyō 9 (737), when officials led by the junior minister Tachibana gathered at the house of Prince Kadobe, President of the Board of Censors. The junior minister Tachibana is thought to be Tachibana no Sai. The host, Prince Kadobe, composes a poem welcoming his guests, and Tachibana no Fuminari answers on the guests' side, forming an exchange of banquet greetings.
The left note reads "The above poem is by Tachibana no Sukune Fuminari," and adds "he is the son of the junior minister." It seems to be a greeting returned on behalf of the guests by a young man who joined the banquet with his father.
The poet, Tachibana no Fuminari, was, according to the left note, the son of the junior minister Tachibana, that is, Tachibana no Sai. Almost nothing else is known of his career.

Where the preceding poem, 1013, is the host's welcome to "you, my lord," this poem turns the same word "kimi" back upon the host, so that the one who welcomes and the one who is welcomed praise each other in a paired composition.
The first line, "The day before last," is the starting point from which the days are counted up one after another.
The second line, "yesterday and today too," repeats the particle "mo" to pile up day after day of meetings. Setting three days side by side gives the poem a light, lively rhythm.
In the third line, "I have looked on you," "-tsure" is a form of the perfective auxiliary "tsu," and "-domo" is a concessive particle. After three days of meeting, the poem turns its feeling around in the lower half.
The fourth line, "yet even tomorrow I," means "even tomorrow as well." The particle "sae" adds tomorrow to the three days already past, stretching time forward, and "mimaku" is a nominalized form meaning "to see."
The final line, "would see you, my lord, once more," closes with "kimi kamo," the noun "kimi" followed by the exclamatory particle "kamo," praising the host with warm affection.
Author: Tachibana no Fuminari
Source: Manyoshu
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