Koto shigeki sato ni sumazu wa kesa nakishi kari ni taguite yukamashi mono o

言繁き里に住まずは今朝鳴きし
雁にたぐひて行かましものを

Roma-ji: Koto shigeki sato ni sumazu wa kesa nakishi kari ni taguite yukamashi mono o
English Translation: Rather than living
in this village thick with talk,
with the geese that cried
this morning, keeping them company,
I would have flown far away
Meaning: Rather than live in a village so thick with gossip, I would have flown away with the wild geese that cried this morning.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1515

Headnote: "A poem by Princess Tajima [one book says it was composed by Prince Kobe]"
Rather than live in a village where gossip is so thick, the poet wishes she could fly away with the wild geese that crossed the sky crying this morning. A note in the headnote records a tradition that it was by Prince Kobe. The pain of suffering from people's talk about love is expressed as a yearning for the geese crossing the sky.
The author, Princess Tajima, was a daughter of Emperor Tenmu, and her love affair with Prince Hozumi is recorded in the Man'yōshū. This poem, too, is placed right after the two poems by Prince Hozumi.
The original text contains a note giving a variant, "if I were not in this land," for the second line; as it is not part of the poem, it has been removed, and the text's reading is followed.

The first line means "thick with gossip." 1499 of this book likewise laments, "because of gossip," that a lover does not come.
In the second line, "zu wa" means "rather than," wishing that she did not have to live in such a village.
The third line recalls the voices of geese crossing the autumn sky this morning. It answers Prince Hozumi's "at dawn this morning I heard the cry of the wild geese" in the preceding 1513, since both sing of the geese heard this morning.
The fourth line means "keeping company with the geese."
The final line adds "mono o" to the counterfactual "mashi," expressing an unattainable wish: I would have gone.
Author: Princess Tajima
Source: Manyoshu
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