Mayone kaki shita ibukashimi omoeru ni inishiehito o aimitsuru kamo

眉根掻き下いふかしみ思へるに
いにしへ人を相見つるかも

Roma-ji: Mayone kaki shita ibukashimi omoeru ni inishiehito o aimitsuru kamo
English Translation: Scratching my eyebrows,
wondering deep in my heart
what this might portend,
I have met with one I knew
in the days now long gone by
Meaning: My eyebrows itched and I scratched them, wondering in my heart what it could mean, and then I met someone dear to me from long ago.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2614

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
Her eyebrows itched and she scratched them, wondering inwardly what it could mean, and then she was able to meet someone dear to her from long ago: this is a love poem of joy. Itching eyebrows were held to be a sign that one would meet the person one longed for, and the poem tells how that omen came true in an unexpected reunion.
Where the preceding poem, 2613, laments a divination that failed, this poem rejoices in an omen that came true, making a contrasting pair. Among the poems on omens and divinations of love that continue from poem 2611, the arrangement places this poem, in which the omen is fulfilled, after the others.
The left note records two variants: one introduced as "a poem in a certain book" reading "mayone kaki tare o ka mimu to omoitsutsu kenagaku koishi imo ni aeru kamo," and one introduced as "a poem in one book" reading "mayone kaki shita ibukashimi omoerishi imo ga sugata o kyō mitsuru kamo." Both share with this poem the joy of a meeting heralded by scratching the eyebrows.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather love poems by people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "mayone kaki": "scratching my eyebrows." Itching eyebrows were thought to herald a meeting with a loved one, and this line names that omen.
Second line, "shita ibukashimi": "wondering in my heart." "Shita" means the inner heart, and "ibukashimi" is the stem of the adjective "ibukashi" with the suffix "mi," expressing an uneasy wondering at what it means.
Third line, "omoeru ni": "as I was thinking so." "Ru" is the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri," and the conjunctive particle "ni" leads on to the unexpected event.
Fourth line, "inishiehito o": "one I knew long ago." It means someone with whom one was once intimate, showing this to be a reunion with a lover long unseen.
Fifth line, "aimitsuru kamo": "I have met with." "Aimiru" means to meet face to face, "tsuru" is the attributive form of the perfective auxiliary "tsu," and the exclamatory particle "kamo" conveys surprise and joy that the omen came true.
Source: Manyoshu
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