Aga kouru ni no ho no omowa koyoi mo ka ama no kawara ni ishimakura maku

我が恋ふる丹のほの面わこよひもか
天の川原に石枕まく

Roma-ji: Aga kouru ni no ho no omowa koyoi mo ka ama no kawara ni ishimakura maku
English Translation: She whom I long for,
her face with its rosy glow—
tonight too, I wonder,
on the Heavenly River's shore
does she pillow on a stone?
Meaning: She whom I love, with her rosy-glowing face—tonight too, is she lying on the shore of the Heavenly River with a stone for her pillow?
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2003

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
In this poem the Herdsman imagines whether his beloved Weaver, with her lovely face, is sleeping alone tonight too on the shore of the Heavenly River with a stone for a pillow. The contrast between the concrete image of a rosy, lovely face and the cold, lonely sleep on a stone pillow impresses the ache of a night apart.
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, "whom I love," names the beloved.
In the second line, "ni no ho no omowa," "ni no ho" means reddened and "omowa" means face: a lovely rosy face.
In the third line, "koyoi mo ka," "ka" is an interrogative particle in kakari-musubi with "maku" in the last line.
The fourth line, "on the shore of the Heavenly River," names the place.
The last line, "ishimakura maku," pillows on a stone, closing with thoughts of her lonely sleep.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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