Katsushika no mama no i mireba tachinarashi mizu kumashikemu tegona shi omōyu

勝鹿の真間の井見れば立ち平し
水汲ましけむ手児名し思ほゆ

Roma-ji: Katsushika no mama no i mireba tachinarashi mizu kumashikemu tegona shi omōyu
English Translation: At Katsushika,
when I see the well of Mama,
where she trod the path,
drawing water day by day,
Tegona comes to my mind.
Meaning: When I see the well of Mama in Katsushika, I think of Tegona, who must have trodden the path smooth as she came to draw water.
Commentary: Book Nine Elegies 1808

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem on the Maiden of Mama in Katsushika, with tanka"; envoy
Seeing the well of Mama in Katsushika, the speaker remembers Tegona, who is said to have come here to draw water. Before the well the legendary girl visited each day, he pictures her vividly.
This is the envoy to the long poem 1807 in this book. The long poem tells how Tegona of Mama in Katsushika, in the eastern provinces, wore a hempen robe with a blue collar, went with uncombed hair and bare feet, yet when she stood smiling like a flower with a face as full as the moon, men crowded to court her, so that, knowing her fate, she lies in a grave by the harbor. Mama is in present-day Mama, Ichikawa, Chiba.
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, "at Katsushika," names the district in Shimōsa.
The second line, "when I see the well of Mama," describes what the speaker sees.
The third line, "where she trod the path," renders tachinarashi, "treading smooth by frequent passage."
The fourth line, "drawing water day by day," uses the honorific shi and kemu for past conjecture.
The final line, "Tegona comes to my mind," uses the emphatic shi with omōyu, "to come naturally to mind."
Author: Takahashi no Mushimaro (from the Mushimaro Collection)
Source: Manyoshu
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