Kaguyama ni kumoi tanabiki ōhoshiku aimishi kora o nochi koimu kamo

香具山に雲居たなびきおほほしく
相見し子らを後恋ひむかも

Roma-ji: Kaguyama ni kumoi tanabiki ōhoshiku aimishi kora o nochi koimu kamo
English Translation: On Kagu's mountain
the clouds trail in drifting bands;
dim and indistinct
was my meeting with the girl,
will I long for her later?
Meaning: Just as Mount Kagu is veiled in trailing clouds, I saw the girl only dimly; will I come to long for her afterward?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2449

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Like the clouds trailing over Mount Kagu, the speaker met the girl only faintly, and wonders whether he will come to long for her later: a love poem that anticipates its own regret. The frustration of a meeting never fully had, and the sense that it will only deepen love afterward, are carried by the image of a mountain blurred in cloud.
Among the poems that speak through things, a series on clouds begins here. The next poem, 2450, shares the third and fourth lines, "ōhoshiku aimishi kora o," with this one; where this poem foresees a longing still to come, "nochi koimu kamo," the next wishes for a way to meet again, "mimu yoshi mogamo." The two poems with shared lines treat a clouded mountain and a moon between clouds, placed side by side as a pair.
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, "Kaguyama ni": Mount Kagu in Kashihara, Nara Prefecture, one of the Three Mountains of Yamato, also called Heavenly Mount Kagu. It is a famous mountain often sung in the Man'yoshu.
Second line, "kumoi tanabiki": "clouds trailing." "Kumoi" means the place of clouds and so the clouds themselves. Together with the first line, these two lines form a preface (jokotoba) that leads to "ōhoshiku" through the image of a mountain hazed in cloud.
Third line, "ōhoshiku": dim, indistinct. Taking up the preface, it is the pivot that turns from the clouded mountain to a meeting seen only faintly.
Fourth line, "aimishi kora o": "the girl I met." "Aimiru" means to meet face to face, and the "ra" of "kora" is a suffix of affection.
Fifth line, "nochi koimu kamo": "will I long for her later?" The conjectural auxiliary "mu" with the questioning, exclamatory "kamo" voices worry over a longing yet to come.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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