Inishie mo kaku kikitsutsu ka shinoikemu kono furukawa no kiyoki se no to o

いにしへもかく聞きつつか偲ひけむ
この布留川の清き瀬の音を

Roma-ji: Inishie mo kaku kikitsutsu ka shinoikemu kono furukawa no kiyoki se no to o
English Translation: In the olden days
did they too listen like this
and hold it dear—
this river Furu's
pure and clear rapids' sound?
Meaning: Did people long ago listen like this, too, and treasure the sound of the Furu River's pure, clear rapids?
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1111

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Rivers"
Listening to the pure rushing of the Furu River, the poet wonders whether people of old also listened like this and cherished it. The river's name, Furu, recalls "furu," to grow old, lending the poem a sense of time's endless flow.
It is one of the poems in the river group praising pure river sounds, and like poem 1118 in this book, "Did the people of long ago, like me...," it turns its thoughts to the ancients. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "In the olden days," means "people of old, too."
In the second line, "did they too listen like this," the particle "ka" expresses doubt and is answered by "kemu" in the third line.
The third line, "and hold it dear," uses the past conjectural "kemu" in the attributive, answering "ka," and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line names the Furu River flowing through Furu at Isonokami. "Furu" sounds like the verb "to grow old," echoing "inishie" (olden days) in the first line.
The final line gives by inversion the object admired, the pure sound of the rapids.
Source: Manyoshu
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