Waga yado no tokijiki fuji no mezurashiku ima mo miteshika imo ga emai o

我が宿の時じき藤のめづらしく
今も見てしか妹が笑まひを

Roma-ji: Waga yado no tokijiki fuji no mezurashiku ima mo miteshika imo ga emai o
English Translation: In my garden here,
wisteria out of season,
so rare and so dear:
how I long to see it now,
the smile upon your face
Meaning: Like the wisteria blooming out of season in my garden, so rare and lovely, how I long to see your smile right now.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Love Poems 1627

Headnote: "Two poems sent by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi to the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue with two things he broke off, out-of-season wisteria blossoms and autumn leaves of bush clover"
Sending wisteria that bloomed out of season in his garden, the poet says that as the flower is rare and lovely, he longs to see his beloved's dear smile right now. He lays the rarity of an out-of-season flower over the sweetness of her smile. The note says, "The above two poems were exchanged in the sixth month of summer, Tenpyō 12 (740)."
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 recipient, the Elder Daughter of Sakanoue, was the daughter of Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue and Yakamochi's cousin, and later became his wife.

The first line names his own garden.
In the second line, "tokiji" means out of season, naming wisteria that bloomed at the wrong time.
The third line means "rare and dear"; the first three lines lead from the rarity of the wisteria to the sweetness of the beloved.
The fourth line, with the desiderative "teshika," wishes to see now. The same line appears in the Elder Daughter of Tamura's 1622 in this book, so her elder sister and her lover sing their longing to see the same Elder Daughter of Sakanoue in the same words.
The final line, "your smile," names at the end, by inversion, what he wishes to see.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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