Mayone kaki hanahi himo toke matsuramu ka itsu ka mo mimu to omoeru ware o

眉根掻き鼻ひ紐解け待つらむか
いつかも見むと思へる我れを

Roma-ji: Mayone kaki hanahi himo toke matsuramu ka itsu ka mo mimu to omoeru ware o
English Translation: I scratched my brow,
I sneezed, my cord came undone:
is she waiting now
for me, who keep on wondering
when at last I'll see her face?
Meaning: Scratching her brow, sneezing, her cord coming loose, is she waiting for me now, I who keep wondering when I shall see her?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2408

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
The poem lists the omens believed to foretell a meeting with a lover: an itching brow, a sneeze, and a garment cord that comes undone of itself. The speaker wonders whether the beloved has seen these signs and is waiting for him. The charm of this love poem lies in the way the speaker's own longing is transferred to imagining the other's side.
Poems 2405 and 2406 just before speak of "untying the cord," and the next poem, 2409, as well as 2413 in this book, speak of the under-sash, so poems about cords cluster in this part of the book. This poem is distinctive for piling up three omens, and it is also known as a record of the folk beliefs of ancient people.
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, "mayone kaki": scratching one's brow. An itching brow was believed to be a sign of meeting the one you love.
Second line, "hanahi himo toke": sneezing, and a garment cord coming loose. A sneeze meant someone was thinking of you, and a cord untying itself foretold a meeting with a lover. The first two lines line up three omens.
Third line, "matsuramu ka": "is she waiting?" The auxiliary "ramu," conjecturing about the present, joined to the question particle "ka," guesses at what the distant beloved is doing now. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "itsu ka mo mimu to": "wondering when I shall see her." "Mimu" expresses the wish to meet, and "ka mo" heightens the sense of question.
Fifth line, "omoeru ware o": "me, who think so." This line is the object of "is she waiting," and through inversion the speaker's own longing is placed last, showing the strength of his waiting.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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