Waga seko ga tsukai komu ka to idetachi no kono matsubara o kyō ka suginamu

我が背子が使来むかと出立の
この松原を今日か過ぎなむ

Roma-ji: Waga seko ga tsukai komu ka to idetachi no kono matsubara o kyō ka suginamu
English Translation: "Will a messenger
come from my dear one?" I wonder—
at Idetachi,
this pine grove, the place of waiting,
shall I pass beyond it today?
Meaning: Its name speaks of a woman who goes out to her gate wondering whether a messenger will come from her husband. Must I pass by this pine grove of Idetachi today?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1674

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thirteen poems from the time when the Retired Sovereign and the Late Sovereign made a progress to the province of Kii in the tenth month, winter, of the first year of Taihō, kanoto-ushi"
The opening words, "Will a messenger come from my dear one?" serve as a preface: the image of a woman going out to her gate to wait for word from her husband leads into the place name Idetachi, "going out to stand." The speaker regrets passing this pine grove today, overlaying the name with the figure of a waiting woman.
This is the eighth of the thirteen poems from the progress to Kii in the first year of Taihō (701). One view places the pine grove of Idetachi on the coast of present-day Tanabe, Wakayama.

The first line, "Will a messenger," begins from the viewpoint of a woman waiting for her husband.
The second line, "come from my dear one?" I wonder," completes the preface, which leads through the image of a woman going out to stand at her gate to the place name Idetachi.
The third line, "at Idetachi," is the place name, carrying the meaning "going out to stand" and receiving the preface.
The fourth line, "this pine grove, the place of waiting," points to the grove before the speaker's eyes. Matsu, "pine," echoes matsu, "to wait," answering the waiting heart of the preface.
The final line, "shall I pass beyond it today?" forms a kakari-musubi of ka with mu; na is the irrealis of the perfective nu.
Source: Manyoshu
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