Kora ga na ni kake no yoroshiki asazuma no katayamagishi ni kasumi tanabiku

子らが名に懸けのよろしき朝妻の
片山崖に霞たなびく

Roma-ji: Kora ga na ni kake no yoroshiki asazuma no katayamagishi ni kasumi tanabiku
English Translation: As a darling's name
how fitting it is to call—
there at Asazuma,
along the steep hillside cliff
the haze is trailing along.
Meaning: At Asazuma, a name so fitting to call one's beloved by, a haze trails along the cliff where the hill falls away on one side.
Commentary: Book Ten Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1818

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Spring Miscellaneous Poems"
This poem sings of the haze trailing along the cliffs of Asazuma and closes the group of spring miscellaneous poems from the Hitomaro Collection. It praises the name "Asazuma," the "morning wife," as fitting to call one's beloved by, and delights in the very sound of the place name. The preceding poem, 1817, also sings of Mount Asazuma, so two poems in a row are set there, both overlaying the "wife" in the name with a lover's feeling.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet of the Asuka period, active under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. The left note records that this poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, and it is uncertain whether it is Hitomaro's own work or a poem by someone else that he recorded.

The first line, "as a darling's name," uses "kora," whose "ra" is an affectionate suffix, gently echoing the image of the couple in the preceding poem.
The second line, "fitting to call," means suitable to speak aloud. "Kaku" means to put into words, and the poet praises the place name by likening it to a lover's name.
The third line, "of Asazuma," names the same place at the foot of Mount Katsuragi as the preceding poem. Taking up "Mount Asazuma," the two poems sing of this place in succession.
The fourth line, "on the one-sided hill cliff," refers to a cliff with a hill rising on one side. It gives a concrete landform and narrows down where the haze hangs.
The last line, "the haze trails," is the phrase shared by the group since 1812, and it sets the scene of haze once more as the close of the Hitomaro Collection's spring poems.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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