Seki naku wa kaeri ni dani mo uchiyukite imo ga tamakura makite nemashi o

関なくは帰りにだにもうち行きて
妹が手枕まきて寝ましを

Roma-ji: Seki naku wa kaeri ni dani mo uchiyukite imo ga tamakura makite nemashi o
English Translation: Were there no barrier,
if only just to go back,
I would hurry home
and upon my beloved's arm
pillowed, I would have slept
Meaning: If there were no barrier here, I would hurry home, if only for the sake of going back, and sleep pillowed on my beloved's arm.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 1036

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem composed by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi at the temporary palace of Fuwa"
Resenting the barrier that blocks his way, the poet longs for his wife: were there no barrier, he would hurry home, if only to go back, and sleep pillowed on her arm. It is a poem from the journey of Tenpyō 12 (740), when Emperor Shōmu made a progress to the province of Ise following the rebellion of Fujiwara no Hirotsugu, Junior Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu, the so-called progress to the east. The progress entered Mino and reached the temporary palace of Fuwa.
The temporary palace of Fuwa stood in Fuwa District of Mino, near present-day Sekigahara in Fuwa District, Gifu Prefecture, and close by was the Fuwa Barrier, one of the three great barriers of ancient Japan. The poet laments, through the supposition "were there no barrier," his lot as a traveler on a royal progress who cannot freely return.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of Ōtomo no Tabito and at this time served as a Palace Guard in attendance on the Emperor. He later held posts such as governor of Etchū and rose to Middle Counselor. He is a poet thought to have been deeply involved in the compilation of the Man'yōshū.

"Upon my beloved's arm pillowed" reverses the phrase "from my dear wife's arms I have taken no pillow" in 1032: against the lament that months have passed without the wife's arm for a pillow, this poem states, in counterfactual form, the wish to sleep upon it, closing Yakamochi's poems of longing on this progress.
The first line, "Were there no barrier," refers to the nearby Fuwa Barrier. "Naku wa" expresses a hypothetical condition that answers "-mashi o" in the final line.
The second line, "if only just to go back," uses "dani," a particle expressing a minimal wish, conveying the earnest longing to go even if he could not stay long.
In the third line, "I would hurry home," "uchi-" is a prefix indicating an action done quickly and lightly.
The fourth line, "and upon my beloved's arm," refers to using the wife's arm as a pillow, a memory of sleeping together that returns again and again on the journey.
The final line, "pillowed, I would have slept," ends with "-mashi o," the counterfactual auxiliary "mashi" followed by "o." Answering the supposition of the first line, it closes by lamenting a wish that cannot be fulfilled.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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