Suga no ne no nemokoro kimi ga musubiteshi wa ga himo no o o toku hito mo nashi

菅の根のねもころ君が結びてし
我が紐の緒を解く人もなし

Roma-ji: Suga no ne no nemokoro kimi ga musubiteshi wa ga himo no o o toku hito mo nashi
English Translation: Like the roots of sedge,
with such care you fastened them,
the cords that you tied,
these cords of my robe, and now
there is no one to untie them
Meaning: The cords of my robe that you tied so tenderly with all your heart: there is no one to untie them now.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2473

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
The poem says that no one unties the cords of the robe that the beloved fastened so tenderly at parting. It can be read as a vow of fidelity, since no one but the beloved may untie them, or as a lament that the beloved does not come to untie them either.
This is one of the poems "Expressing Feelings through Things," set amid the series on sedge. Like the preceding poem it uses "nemokoro," but where the preceding poem led into the word with a preface, this one does so with the pillow word "suga no ne no." In its theme of tying cords it also connects with poem 2477 of this book.
The Man'yoshu often depicts the custom by which lovers, on parting, tied each other's robe cords and vowed not to untie them until they met again, and this poem is grounded in that custom.
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, "suga no ne no": a pillow word for "nemokoro," since the long roots of sedge intertwine.
Second line, "nemokoro kimi ga": "you, with all your heart." It uses "nemokoro" just as the fourth line of the preceding poem does.
Third line, "musubiteshi": "that you tied." "Te" is the perfective auxiliary "tsu" and "shi" the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," calling up the memory of the day of parting.
Fourth line, "wa ga himo no o o": "the cords of my robe." "O" means cord, referring to the cords vowed to stay tied until reunion.
Fifth line, "toku hito mo nashi": "there is no one to untie them." The particle "mo" stresses that not a single person unties them.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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