Ōnora ni tadoki mo shirazu shime yuite arikatsumashiji a ga kōraku wa

大野らにたどきも知らず標結ひて
ありかつましじ我が恋ふらくは

Roma-ji: Ōnora ni tadoki mo shirazu shime yuite arikatsumashiji a ga kōraku wa
English Translation: On the spreading moor,
not knowing where to begin,
I have set my mark;
I cannot bear it, I fear,
this longing that I feel for you
Meaning: As one who sets a boundary mark on a wide moor without knowing how to begin, I fear I cannot bear it, this love that I feel.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2481

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Like one who has staked a claim on a wide moor with no sense of direction, the speaker has stepped into love without knowing what to do, and fears it will be more than can be borne; the poem conveys the pain of a love with nowhere to go. The boundary mark tied on the moor serves as a figure for a heart that has set itself on someone beyond reach.
This is one of the poems "Expressing Feelings through Things," a love poem set upon a boundary mark. The device of likening the tying of a mark to claiming a lover as one's own also appears in "ono ni shime yuu" in poem 2466 of this book. In contrast to the preceding poems set upon plants and flowers, this one sets its feeling upon a mark tied on the moor.
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, "ōnora ni": "on the wide moor." "Ra" is a suffix that smooths the rhythm.
Second line, "tadoki mo shirazu": "not knowing where to begin," expressing the helplessness of a love with no clear way forward.
Third line, "shime yuite": "tying a boundary mark." The first three lines form a metaphor, likening the speaker to one who has set a heart on a beloved without any prospect.
Fourth line, "arikatsumashiji": "I shall surely not be able to endure." "Katsu" means to be able to bear, and "mashiji" is an auxiliary of negative conjecture; the poem pauses here.
Fifth line, "a ga kōraku wa": "my longing." "Kōraku" is the nominalized form of "kou" (to long for), and through the inversion the pain of love is revealed at the end.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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