Akarahiku irogushi ko o shiba mireba hitozuma yue ni are koinubeshi

赤らひく色ぐはし子をしば見れば
人妻ゆゑに我れ恋ひぬべし

Roma-ji: Akarahiku irogushi ko o shiba mireba hitozuma yue ni are koinubeshi
English Translation: Glowing rosy-red,
the lovely girl so fair of hue—
seeing her so often,
though she is another's wife,
I feel sure I'll fall in love.
Meaning: Seeing so often that lovely girl, glowing with rosy color, I feel I am bound to fall in love, though she is another's wife.
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 1999

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
This poem says that seeing the lovely Weaver Star, glowing with color, so often, the speaker feels he may fall in love though she is the Herdsman's wife. Within the Tanabata series, it takes the conceit of an earthly person drawn to the Weaver's beauty, singing of a heavenly star with warm familiarity as an object of human love. "Hitozuma yue ni" shows both hesitation before a forbidden love and the wavering of the heart because of it.
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, "akarahiku," glowing red, is a pillow word attached to words such as "color."
In the second line, "irogushi ko o," "irogushi" means lovely in color: a beautiful girl.
In the third line, "shiba mireba," "shiba" means often: when I see her often.
In the fourth line, "hitozuma yue ni," "yue ni" is here taken as adversative: though she is another's wife.
In the last line, "are koinubeshi," "nu" is emphatic and "beshi" conjecture: I will surely fall in love.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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