Inochi o shi masakiku mo ga mo nahoriyama iwa fuminarashi mata mata mo komu

命をしま幸くもがも名欲山
岩踏み平しまたまたも来む

Roma-ji: Inochi o shi masakiku mo ga mo nahoriyama iwa fuminarashi mata mata mo komu
English Translation: If only my life
may be kept safe and sound,
then Mount Nahori,
treading down its rugged rocks,
again and yet again I'll come.
Meaning: If only my life is spared, I will come again and again, treading the rocks of Mount Nahori underfoot.
Commentary: Book Nine Love Poems 1779

Headnote: "A poem in reply by Fujii no Muraji"
If only his life is spared, the speaker promises, he will tread the rocks of Mount Nahori and come back again. He comforts the grieving maiden with a promise of reunion.
This answers the maiden's poem, 1778. Sharing the third and fourth lines "Mount Nahori, treading down its rugged rocks," it turns her "you have crossed and gone away" into "again and yet again I'll come," making the road of leaving a road of return.
Some identify the author, Fujii no Muraji, with Fujii no Muraji Hironari, but there is no settled view. Fujii is also written with other characters, and Muraji is a hereditary title.

The first line, "if only my life," includes the emphatic shi.
The second line, "may be kept safe and sound," uses the desiderative mogamo, and the poem pauses here.
The third line, "then Mount Nahori," is the same as the third line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "treading down its rugged rocks," matches the preceding poem's fourth line.
The final line, "again and yet again I'll come," uses the volitional mu, reversing the road of departure in the preceding poem into a road of return.
Author: Fujii no Muraji
Source: Manyoshu
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