Shirotae ni niou matsuchi no yamagawa ni aga uma nazumu ie kou rashi mo

白栲ににほふ真土の山川に
我が馬なづむ家恋ふらしも

Roma-ji: Shirotae ni niou matsuchi no yamagawa ni aga uma nazumu ie kou rashi mo
English Translation: White as mulberry cloth
shines the soil of Matsuchi,
and its mountain stream
where my horse falters and halts—
they must be longing for me at home
Meaning: In the mountain stream of Matsuchi, whose soil gleams white as mulberry cloth, my horse falters—those at home must be yearning for me.
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1192

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on Journeys"
When his horse falters in the mountain stream at Matsuchi, the poet takes it as a sign that those at home are longing for him. Like the preceding poem, it expresses homesickness against the belief that a horse's behavior signals the feelings of family at home.
It pairs with the preceding poem, whose last line, "they must be thinking of me at home," answers this poem's "they must be longing for me at home." Mount Matsuchi, on the border of Yamato and Kii, was often sung in poems of journeys to Kii. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "White as mulberry cloth," means "like white cloth."
In the second line, "niou" means to glow with color. "Matsuchi" is Mount Matsuchi on the Yamato-Kii border, and the line may praise the whiteness of its soil.
The third line, "and its mountain stream," refers to the stream in the hills.
In the fourth line, "nazumu" means to struggle and hold back; it answers "my horse stumbles" in the fourth line of the preceding poem, and the poem pauses here.
The final line, "they must be longing for me at home," corresponds to the last line of the preceding poem.
Source: Manyoshu
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