classic waka stream

常ならぬ人国山の秋津野の
かきつはたをし夢に見しかも
Roma-ji

Tsune naranu hitokuniyama no akizuno no kakitsubata o shi ime ni mishi kamo

English Translation
Ever-changing man—
on Hitokuni Mountain,
in Akizu's fields,
the irises blooming there
I have seen within my dreams
Meaning
On the Akizu fields of Mount Hitokuni—named for men, who never stay the same—I saw the irises in my dreams.
Commentary
Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1345

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Grasses"
The speaker has seen in a dream the irises blooming on the fields of Akizu at Mount Hitokuni. The lovely iris stands for a woman who draws his heart, and the poem conveys a longing so deep that he dreams of one beyond his reach. Some, from the name "Hitokuni" ("another's land"), read it as a poem about a woman who cannot be his, such as another man's wife.
It is one of the poems on grasses. Mount Hitokuni also appears in poem 1305 in this book, "Never tiring to behold, the leaves on Hitokuni Mountain," where it is sung through tree leaves. Mount Hitokuni and the fields of Akizu are placed in the province of Kii. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "Ever-changing man," renders "tsune naranu," a pillow word for "hito" (people), from the impermanence of human life.
The second line names Mount Hitokuni in Kii, the same mountain as in poem 1305 in this book.
The third line refers to the fields of Akizu at the foot of the mountain.
In the fourth line, "the irises blooming there," "shi" is emphatic.
In the final line, "kamo" is exclamatory: "I have seen them in my dreams."
Source
Manyoshu
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