Hisakata no amama mo okazu kumogakuri naki zo yuku naru wasada karigane

久方の雨間も置かず雲隠り
鳴きぞ行くなる早稲田雁がね

Roma-ji: Hisakata no amama mo okazu kumogakuri naki zo yuku naru wasada karigane
English Translation: From the far heavens,
not waiting for the rain to break,
hidden in the clouds,
I hear them go on crying,
the geese over the early rice
Meaning: Not waiting for a break in the rain, hidden in the clouds, the wild geese over the early rice fields go crying on their way.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1566

Headnote: "Four autumn poems by Ōtomo no Yakamochi"
The poem sings of the voices of wild geese crossing over the early rice fields, hidden in the clouds, without waiting for a break in the rain. Only the voices of unseen geese ring through the rainy sky, conveying the deepening of autumn and its melancholy. The note says, "The above four poems were composed in the ninth month of autumn, Tenpyō 8 (736)."
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and an official of the Nara period. He rose to the post of Middle Counselor, is thought to have been closely involved in compiling the Man'yōshū, and left more poems than anyone else in the anthology.

The first line, "hisakata no," is a pillow word for "rain."
The second line means "not waiting for a break in the rain."
The third line, "hidden in the clouds," shows that the geese cannot be seen. Kasa no Kanamura's 1454 in this book also uses "hidden in the clouds" to depict something receding.
The fourth line forms a kakari-musubi between "zo" and "naru," the attributive of the inferential "nari," meaning "I hear them go crying."
The final line ends on a noun, placing last the geese crossing over the early rice fields.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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