Sahogawa no mizu o sekiagete ueshi ta o kareru hatsuii wa hitori narubeshi

佐保川の水を堰き上げて植ゑし田を
刈れる初飯はひとりなるべし

Roma-ji: Sahogawa no mizu o sekiagete ueshi ta o kareru hatsuii wa hitori narubeshi
English Translation: From the Saho River
damming up the water, they
planted this rice field:
the first rice from its harvest
one alone will surely eat
Meaning: The rice field planted with water dammed up from the Saho River: the first rice cooked from its harvest will surely be eaten by one alone.
Commentary: Book Eight Autumn Love Poems 1635

Headnote: "A poem in which a nun composed the opening lines, and Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi, at the nun's request, added the closing lines in reply"
A nun composed the upper verse, and Ōtomo no Yakamochi, at her request, added the lower verse to complete the poem. Where the nun sang of a field laboriously planted with water drawn from the Saho River, Yakamochi continues that the first rice from its harvest will surely be eaten by one alone. As a poem composed in turn by two people, it is known as a forerunner of later linked verse.
The author of the upper verse is identified in the headnote only as "a nun," and her name is not known. The author of the lower verse, 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 original text contains notes, "composed by the nun" after the upper verse and "continued by Yakamochi" after the lower; as they are not part of the poem, they have been removed.

The first line names the Saho River, which flows through Saho in Nara, where the Ōtomo clan had its residence.
The second line, with an extra syllable, means "damming up the water and drawing it in," showing the labor of raising the field.
The third line means "the field that was planted." It uses the same words as the third line of the preceding 1634, suggesting that the nun composed her upper verse in answer to that poem.
The fourth line begins Yakamochi's lower verse: "the first rice from the reaped harvest."
The final line, with the conjectural "beshi," surmises that it will be eaten by one alone. With wit, it takes up the nun's upper verse: the fruit of the field raised with such labor will go to one person alone.
Author: A nun and Ōtomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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