Imoragari waga kayoiji no shinosusuki ware shi kayowaba nabike shinohara

妹らがり我が通ひ道の小竹すすき
我れし通はば靡け小竹原

Roma-ji: Imoragari waga kayoiji no shinosusuki ware shi kayowaba nabike shinohara
English Translation: On the path I take
when I go to see my love,
bamboo grass and pampas,
when I come along that way,
bend low, you bamboo thickets!
Meaning: You dwarf bamboo and pampas grass along the path I take to my beloved—when I come by, bow down and let me pass, you thickets of bamboo!
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1121

Headnote: "On Grasses"
The poet calls on the dwarf bamboo and pampas grass thick along the path to his beloved to bend and make way when he passes. His eagerness to reach her is frankly expressed as a command to the grasses.
It is a poem under the heading "On Grasses," treating the grasses as the scenery of a lover's path. The poet is unknown.

In the first line, "gari" means "to the place of," and "ra" is an affectionate suffix: "to my beloved."
The second line, "On the path I take," means the road the poet travels.
The third line, "shinosusuki," is taken as dwarf bamboo and pampas grass, or as pampas grass resembling dwarf bamboo.
In the fourth line, "when I come along that way," "shi" is emphatic, forming a hypothetical condition.
The final line joins the imperative "nabike" (bend!) to the vocative "shinohara" (bamboo thickets). "Shino" in the third line and "shinohara" in the last line echo each other.
Source: Manyoshu
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