Yamato ni wa kikoe mo yuku ka ōgano no takaha kari shiki iori seri to wa

大和には聞こえも行くか大我野の
竹葉刈り敷き廬りせりとは

Roma-ji: Yamato ni wa kikoe mo yuku ka ōgano no takaha kari shiki iori seri to wa
English Translation: To far Yamato
will the news of it go forth—
that on Ōga plain
we cut bamboo leaves and spread them,
sheltering in a rough hut?
Meaning: Will word reach Yamato that on the plain of Ōga we are cutting bamboo leaves to spread for bedding and sheltering in rough huts?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1677

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 speaker wishes that the people of Yamato might learn of the hardship of the journey, of sleeping in a makeshift hut on bamboo leaves at Ōga. The loneliness of travel is expressed as a longing toward those at home.
This is the eleventh of the thirteen poems from the progress to Kii in the first year of Taihō (701). Ōga is thought to be a plain near present-day Hashimoto, Wakayama.

The first line, "to far Yamato," names the homeland, singled out by wa.
The second line, "will the news of it go forth," poses the question and the poem pauses; what is to be reported is held back for the following lines in inversion.
The third line, "that on Ōga plain," names the place of lodging.
The fourth line, "we cut bamboo leaves and spread them," describes making a bed of bamboo leaves.
The final line, "sheltering in a rough hut," supplies at the end the news asked about in the second line, completing the inversion.
Source: Manyoshu
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