Tamahoko no michiyuki ura ni uranaeba imo ni awamu to ware ni noritsu mo

玉桙の道行き占に占なへば
妹に逢はむと我れに告りつも

Roma-ji: Tamahoko no michiyuki ura ni uranaeba imo ni awamu to ware ni noritsu mo
English Translation: Along the jeweled road
I sought a reading of fortune
from passers' chance words,
and they told me I would meet
my beloved, yes, they did
Meaning: When I divined by the words of passers-by on the road, the omen told me that I would meet my beloved.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2507

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Having divined by the road, listening to the words of passers-by to read good or ill fortune, the speaker rejoices that the omen promised a meeting with his beloved. The poem shows plainly both a heart that cannot help entrusting love's course to divination and the brightness of having received a favorable sign.
The headnote continues "Expressing Feelings through Things" from the preceding poem, and this poem speaks of love through divination. The preceding poem asks an evening oracle and is told that the beloved will draw near; this poem likewise receives good news from divination at the crossroads. The two are set side by side on the theme of fortune-telling, and this poem stands last among the poems expressing feelings through things in the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection.
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, "tamahoko no": a pillow word attached to "road." "Tamahoko" means a beautiful jeweled halberd, and the epithet is said to arise from the pillars raised to worship the god of the road.
Second line, "michiyuki ura ni": "Michiyuki ura" is divination that reads good or ill fortune from the words of people passing on the road. It was often practiced at crossroads in the evening and was also called yuke, the evening oracle.
Third line, "uranaeba": "when I divined." "Uranae" is the realis form of the verb "uranau," and with "ba" it marks a settled condition.
Fourth line, "imo ni awamu to": "that I would meet my beloved." The auxiliary "mu" expresses conjecture, and "to" quotes what the oracle declared.
Fifth line, "ware ni noritsu mo": "it told me so." The perfective auxiliary "tsu" with the exclamatory "mo" closes the poem with the joy of a favorable sign.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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