Kasugano ni keburi tatsu miyu otomera shi haruno no uwagi tsumite nirashi mo

春日野に煙立つ見ゆ娘子らし
春野のうはぎ摘みて煮らしも

Roma-ji: Kasugano ni keburi tatsu miyu otomera shi haruno no uwagi tsumite nirashi mo
English Translation: On Kasuga Plain
I can see the smoke arise—
the maidens, it seems,
picking uhagi of spring fields,
must be boiling them there now.
Meaning: I see smoke rising on Kasuga Plain. It must be the maidens, boiling the starwort greens they have picked in the spring fields.
Commentary: Book Ten Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1879

Headnote: "On Smoke"
Seeing smoke rising on Kasuga Plain, the poet surmises that maidens are boiling the uhagi greens they have picked, and the headnote is "On Smoke." From the clue of distant smoke, the poet imagines the girls enjoying the gathering of young greens in the fields, vividly conveying a peaceful custom of the spring fields. Like the gathering of egu in 1839, it sings of the custom of picking young greens in spring.

The first line, "on Kasuga Plain," names the fields east of the Nara capital.
The second line, "I see smoke rising," breaks the poem after the second line.
In the third line, "otomera shi," "otomera" means young maidens and "shi" is an emphatic particle.
In the fourth line, "haruno no uwagi," "uwagi" is the aster known as yomena, eaten as a young green in spring.
In the last line, "tsumite nirashi mo," "rashi" marks grounded inference and "mo" is exclamatory, closing by inferring the maidens' picking of greens from the smoke.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ima yukite kiku mono ni mo ga asukagawa harusame furite tagitsu se no oto o
Next Poem: Kasugano no asaji ga ue ni omou dochi asobu kyō no hi wasuraeme ya mo