Kyō no hi ni ika ni ka shikamu tsukubane ni mukashi no hito no kikemu sono hi mo

今日の日にいかにかしかむ筑波嶺に
昔の人の来けむその日も

Roma-ji: Kyō no hi ni ika ni ka shikamu tsukubane ni mukashi no hito no kikemu sono hi mo
English Translation: To this very day
how could any day compare,
even on Tsukuba,
that day when people long ago
came and climbed its heights?
Meaning: How could any day match the joy of today, even the day long ago when people of old came up Mount Tsukuba?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1754

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem from the time when Lord Ōtomo, the tax-inspecting envoy, climbed Mount Tsukuba, with tanka"; envoy
Even the day when people of old climbed Mount Tsukuba could not match today's joy, the speaker declares, praising the pleasure of this climb. His satisfaction at a bright day spent guiding a guest to the summit shines through.
This is the envoy to the long poem 1753 in this book. The long poem tells how, guiding Lord Ōtomo up Mount Tsukuba in the heat, the male and female gods granted their favor, lit up the often cloud-wrapped peak and revealed the splendor of the land, so that the party loosened their sashes and made merry. Whether Lord Ōtomo, the tax-inspecting envoy, was Ōtomo no Tabito or Ōtomo no Michitari is debated, with no settled view.
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, "to this very day," refers to today.
The second line, "how could any day compare," is rhetorical; ka is answered by the attributive mu in a kakari-musubi.
The third line, "even on Tsukuba," names the mountain.
The fourth line, "that day when people long ago," refers to those who climbed it in the past.
The final line, "came and climbed its heights," uses kemu for past hearsay; inversion places the point of comparison last.
Author: Takahashi no Mushimaro (from the Mushimaro Collection)
Source: Manyoshu
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