Itoma araba nazusai watari mukatsuo no sakura no hana mo oramashi mono o

暇あらばなづさひ渡り向つ峰の
桜の花も折らましものを

Roma-ji: Itoma araba nazusai watari mukatsuo no sakura no hana mo oramashi mono o
English Translation: If I had the time,
wading waist-deep through the stream,
on the facing peak
the blossoms of the cherry, too,
I would pluck and bring away.
Meaning: If I had the time, I would wade across the river and break off the cherry blossoms on the facing peak as well.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1750

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems from the time when the lords and officials went down to Naniwa in the third month of spring, with tanka"; envoy
If there were time, the speaker says, he would cross the river and break off the cherry blossoms on the opposite peak too. The regret of a hurried official journey that allows no detours comes through.
This is the envoy to the long poem 1749 in this book. The long poem says that crossing Mount Tatsuta at dusk, the open cherry blossoms have fallen and the buds will bloom in turn; though the flowers are not everywhere at their height, now is the time for the lord's journey. Some link it to Emperor Shōmu's progress to Naniwa in the third month of the sixth year of Tenpyō (734).
The author, Takahashi no Mushimaro, was a poet of the early Nara period who is thought to have served under Fujiwara no Umakai when Umakai was governor of Hitachi. He excelled at long poems on local legends and the landscape of the eastern provinces. This poem is taken from the Mushimaro Collection, which is thought to consist mainly of his own works.

The first line, "if I had the time," sets up the hypothesis.
The second line, "wading waist-deep through the stream," uses nazusau, "to be soaked in water."
The third line, "on the facing peak," points across the river.
The fourth line, "the blossoms of the cherry, too," follows on from the long poem's "cherry blossoms above the falls."
The final line, "I would pluck and bring away," uses the counterfactual mashi answering araba, with mono o expressing regret.
Author: Takahashi no Mushimaro (from the Mushimaro Collection)
Source: Manyoshu
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