Taratsune no haha ga kau ko no mayogomori komoreru imo o mimu yoshi mo ga mo

たらつねの母が養ふ蚕の繭隠り
隠れる妹を見むよしもがも

Roma-ji: Taratsune no haha ga kau ko no mayogomori komoreru imo o mimu yoshi mo ga mo
English Translation: Like the silkworm kept
by the mother, milk-bestowing,
in its cocoon hid,
so my girl stays hidden away;
if only there were some way to see her
Meaning: Like the silkworms her mother tends, shut away in their cocoons, my beloved stays hidden at home. If only there were some way to see her.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2495

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Just as the silkworms her mother carefully tends shut themselves in their cocoons, the beloved stays hidden deep in the house under her mother's care, and the speaker longs for some way to see her. The poem conveys the frustration of a man unable to approach a girl who cannot leave her mother's protection.
This poem speaks through the silkworm's cocoon, using an object from the daily work of sericulture as its preface. Like poem 2368 at the head of the tanka in this book, it sings of "the mother, milk-bestowing," showing how large a mother looms in these love poems. Book Twelve has a similar poem with the same preface, "the silkworm the mother tends, hidden in its cocoon."
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, "taratsune no": a pillow word attached to "mother," the same as "tarachine no."
Second line, "haha ga kau ko no": "of the silkworms the mother keeps." "Kau" here means to raise and tend.
Third line, "mayogomori": "shut in the cocoon." The opening through this line forms a preface, repeating the sound "komori" to lead into "komoreru" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "komoreru imo o": "my beloved who stays hidden away," describing a girl carefully guarded by her mother and kept from others' sight.
Fifth line, "mimu yoshi mo ga mo": "if only there were a way to see her." "Yoshi" means a means or way, and "mo ga mo" is a particle of wishing.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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