Okami ni kumo tachinobori shigure furi nuretōru tomo ware kaerame ya

男神に雲立ち上りしぐれ降り
濡れ通るとも我れ帰らめや

Roma-ji: Okami ni kumo tachinobori shigure furi nuretōru tomo ware kaerame ya
English Translation: On the Male God's peak
clouds are rising in the sky,
showers are falling;
though I should be soaked right through,
would I ever turn back home?
Meaning: Clouds rise over the Male God's peak and cold showers fall; though I be soaked to the skin, would I ever go home?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems 1760

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem composed on the day of a kagai gathering held on climbing Mount Tsukuba, with tanka"; envoy
Even if clouds rise over the Male God's peak of Mount Tsukuba and cold showers soak him through, the speaker declares he will not go home. His excitement at joining the yearly kagai gathering is expressed with force.
This is the envoy to the long poem 1759 in this book. The long poem says that on the day of the kagai, when young men and women gather at Mohakitsu on Mount Tsukuba to exchange songs, the speaker too may mingle with others' wives and others may court his wife, for the god who rules the mountain has not forbidden it since ancient times. Kagai was the eastern word for a gathering where men and women exchanged songs in courtship.
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, "on the Male God's peak," refers to the western of Tsukuba's two peaks, echoing the long poem's "god who rules this mountain."
The second line, "clouds are rising in the sky," describes the gathering weather.
The third line, "showers are falling," refers to shigure, the passing showers of late autumn and early winter.
The fourth line, "though I should be soaked right through," concedes the worst.
The final line, "would I ever turn back home?" is rhetorical, using me, the realis of mu, with ya.
Author: Takahashi no Mushimaro (from the Mushimaro Collection)
Source: Manyoshu
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