Hashiki yashi ta ga saure kamo tamahoko no michi miwasurete kimi ga kimasanu

はしきやし誰が障ふれかも玉桙の
道見忘れて君が来まさぬ

Roma-ji: Hashiki yashi ta ga saure kamo tamahoko no michi miwasurete kimi ga kimasanu
English Translation: O my dearest one,
who is it that bars your way?
The jeweled-spear road,
have you forgotten its sight,
that you will not come to me
Meaning: Ah, my dear one, who is it that holds you back? Have you forgotten the road, that you do not come to me?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2380

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
The beloved does not come; is someone standing in the way, or has he forgotten the road? So the speaker wonders. Rather than suspecting a change of heart, she searches for reasons he cannot come, and in that the wish to trust him shows itself.
The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "Expressing One's Feelings Directly." "Hashiki yashi" also appears in poem 2369, "tamahoko no michi" in 2370, and "kimasanu kimi" in 2378, so the phrases of this group overlap. Amid a run of poems about waiting for a lover who does not come, this one takes the form of asking why.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "hashiki yashi": an exclamation meaning "O dear one." It sets at the outset the affection felt for "kimi" in the last line.
Second line, "ta ga saure kamo": "because who obstructs you?" "Saure" is the realis form of the verb "sau," to obstruct, and the particle "kamo" forms a question that guesses at the cause.
Third line, "tamahoko no": a pillow word attached to "road."
Fourth line, "michi miwasurete": "forgetting the road." It offers the half-joking guess that he has forgotten a road he used to know well.
Fifth line, "kimi ga kimasanu": "that you do not come." Answering "kamo" in the second line, it closes with "nu," the attributive of the negative "zu."
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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