Fusa taori tamu no yamagiri shigemi kamo hosokawa no se ni nami no sawakeru

ふさ手折り多武の山霧繁みかも
細川の瀬に波の騒ける

Roma-ji: Fusa taori tamu no yamagiri shigemi kamo hosokawa no se ni nami no sawakeru
English Translation: Breaking boughs to bend—
the mountain mists of Tamu
hang thick, is it so,
that in the shallows of Hosokawa
the waves are churning so?
Meaning: Is it because the mountain mist lies thick on Tamu that the waves are churning so in the shallows of the Hosokawa?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1704

Headnote: "Two poems presented to Prince Toneri"
Seeing the waves churn in the shallows of the Hosokawa, the poet wonders whether thick mist has settled on Mount Tamu upstream. From the state of the river before him he senses the unseen mountain.
This is the first of two poems presented to Prince Toneri. Mount Tamu is Tōnomine in Sakurai, Nara, and the Hosokawa is the stream flowing from there down toward Asuka.
The author, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was a court poet active in the reigns of Jitō and Monmu. This poem is taken from the Hitomaro Collection, which is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he gathered. Prince Toneri was a son of Emperor Tenmu and presided over the compilation of the Nihon Shoki.

The first line, fusa taori, "breaking boughs in plenty," is a pillow word for Tamu, said to come from bending branches, tawamu. It also appears in the third line of 1683, likewise a poem presented to Prince Toneri.
The second line, "the mountain mists of Tamu," names the mist on the peak.
The third line, "hang thick, is it so," uses the causal suffix mi and the question particle kamo, which forms a kakari-musubi with the last line.
The fourth line, "that in the shallows of Hosokawa," names the stream flowing down from Tamu.
The final line, "the waves are churning so?" ends in the attributive ru of the continuative ri, answering kamo.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Kumogakuri kari naku toki wa akiyama no momichi katamatsu toki wa suguredo
Next Poem: Fuyu komori harue o koite ueshi ki no mi ni naru toki o katamatsu ware zo