Ki no kuni ni yamazu kayowamu tsuma no mori tsuma yoshikose ne tsuma to iinagara

紀の国にやまず通はむ妻の杜
妻寄しこせね妻といひながら

Roma-ji: Ki no kuni ni yamazu kayowamu tsuma no mori tsuma yoshikose ne tsuma to iinagara
English Translation: To the land of Kii
I shall come again and again;
O Grove of Tsuma,
grant a tsuma, a wife, to me—
since Tsuma, "wife," is your name.
Meaning: I will keep coming to the land of Kii. Grove of Tsuma, bring me a wife—after all, "wife" is your very name.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1679

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"
Addressing the Grove of Tsuma, whose name means "wife," the speaker playfully asks it to grant him a wife since it bears that name. Repeating "wife" three times, the poem delights wittily in the place name.
This is the thirteenth and closing poem of the thirteen from the progress to Kii in the first year of Taihō (701). The Grove of Tsuma is thought to be the sacred grove of a shrine at Tsuma in present-day Hashimoto, Wakayama. The text notes a variant lower verse, "would you but give me a wife, since Tsuma is your name." A left note says that this poem is by some attributed to Sakanoue no Imiki Hitoosa.
The author, Sakanoue no Hitoosa, is thought to have belonged to the Sakanoue no Imiki family, but nothing further is known of his career.

The first line, "to the land of Kii," names the destination.
The second line, "I shall come again and again," uses the volitional mu, and the poem pauses here.
The third line, "O Grove of Tsuma," is the place name and the one addressed.
The fourth line, "grant a tsuma, a wife, to me," uses yosu, "to bring near and bestow," with kose ne, a request. The variant has "would you but give me a wife."
The final line, "since Tsuma, 'wife,' is your name," closes with playful wit, and the repetition of tsuma in the third, fourth, and fifth lines is the heart of the poem.
Author: Sakanoue no Hitoosa (according to one account)
Source: Manyoshu
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