Asagiri ni nure ni shi koromo hosazu shite hitori ka kimi ga yamaji koyuramu

朝霧に濡れにし衣干さずして
ひとりか君が山道越ゆらむ

Roma-ji: Asagiri ni nure ni shi koromo hosazu shite hitori ka kimi ga yamaji koyuramu
English Translation: In the morning mist
the robe that was soaked right through
left without drying—
is it alone, my dear one,
that you cross the mountain path?
Meaning: Your robe soaked through by the morning mist, with no one to dry it—are you crossing the mountain path all alone now, my love?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1666

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems from the time when the sovereign who ruled the realm from the Okamoto Palace made a progress to the province of Kii"
Thinking of her husband who has left with the royal train, the speaker worries that he may be crossing the mountains alone, his robe soaked by the morning mist and no one there to dry it. Composed from the viewpoint of a wife at home, it pairs with the preceding poem by a man on the journey, setting the traveler against the one who waits.
According to the headnote, this is the second of the two poems from the progress to Kii by the Okamoto sovereign, and the left note says their author is unknown.
Poem 1730 of this book, also about a loved one on a journey, has a closely similar lower verse: "is it gazing that you cross the mountain path?"

The first line, "in the morning mist," evokes the fog of an early start and the dampness of the mountain road.
The second line, "the robe that was soaked right through," uses the perfective ni and the past shi to describe a robe already wet.
The third line, "left without drying," quietly suggests that no one is at his side to dry the robe for him.
The fourth line, "is it alone, my dear one," contains the question particle ka, which forms a kakari-musubi with ramu in the last line. The word hitori, "alone," carries the wife's anxiety for her husband.
The final line, "that you cross the mountain path," imagines what is happening out of sight. Ramu is the auxiliary of present conjecture, closing in the attributive form in answer to ka. It is exactly the same as the final line of 1730.
Source: Manyoshu
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