Awayuki no niwa ni furishiki samuki yo o tamakura makazu hitori kamo nemu

沫雪の庭に降り敷き寒き夜を
手枕まかずひとりかも寝む

Roma-ji: Awayuki no niwa ni furishiki samuki yo o tamakura makazu hitori kamo nemu
English Translation: With the light snow spread
all across the garden now,
through the cold night long,
with no arm to be my pillow,
must I sleep alone tonight?
Meaning: On this cold night with light snow spread across the garden, must I sleep alone, without a lover's arm for my pillow?
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Love Poems 1663

Headnote: "A poem by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
On a cold night with light snow spread across the garden, the poet laments that he must sleep alone, without a lover's arm for a pillow. The cold of the snowy night deepens the loneliness of sleeping alone. This is the last poem of Book Eight.
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 means "of the light snow that melts like foam."
The second line means "spread all across the garden."
The third line, "through the cold night," sharpens the loneliness of sleeping alone.
The fourth line means "without making an arm my pillow," showing that there is no one to lie beside. Prince Aki's 1555 in this book likewise lets the loneliness of sleeping alone show through the cold of an autumn dawn wind, sharing the conceit of seasonal cold deepening that loneliness.
The final line, with the interrogative "ka" and conjectural "mu," laments: must I sleep alone? Whereas the opening poem, 1418, sings the joy of spring shoots, this closing poem sings of the loneliness of sleeping alone on a snowy night, so Book Eight begins in the joy of spring and ends in the solitude of winter.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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