Ōkimi no mikasa ni nueru arimasuge aritsutsu miredo koto naki wagimo

大君の御笠に縫へる有間菅
ありつつ見れど事なき我妹

Roma-ji: Ōkimi no mikasa ni nueru arimasuge aritsutsu miredo koto naki wagimo
English Translation: The sedge of Arima
that is sewn into the hat
of our great sovereign:
though I gaze and gaze on you,
no flaw at all, my dear love
Meaning: Like the sedge of Arima sewn into our sovereign's hat, I go on and on gazing at you, yet find no flaw at all in you, my love.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2757

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
This love poem praises the beloved: though I keep looking at you always, I see no flaw at all. With the fine sedge of Arima, worthy of the sovereign's hat, as its introduction, it conveys a gaze that never tires of the beloved.
It is a poem "Expressing Feelings through Things" that speaks through the sedge of Arima, following the dayflower of the preceding poem with another plant. The next poem begins "suga no ne no" and poem 2761 sings of "iwamotosuge," so poems on sedge are gathered here. This poem, a man's praise of a beloved in whom no flaw can be found after long gazing, stands beside the two women's poems that precede it.
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, "ōkimi no": "of the sovereign." Naming the sovereign as the owner of the hat shows how fine the sedge is.
Second line, "mikasa ni nueru": "sewn into his hat." "Ru" is the attributive form of the auxiliary "ri" of continuing state, describing sedge woven into the hat.
Third line, "arimasuge": sedge growing at Arima in Settsu, around present-day Arima in Kita Ward, Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. The first three lines form an introductory phrase that, through the sound "ari" in "Arima," leads to "aritsutsu" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "aritsutsu miredo": "though I keep on looking." "Tsutsu" marks continuation and "do" is an adversative particle.
Fifth line, "koto naki wagimo": "my dear one without any flaw." "Koto nashi" here means having no fault or hindrance. Ending on the noun "wagimo," it carries the tone of calling out to the beloved.
Source: Manyoshu
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