Oshiteru naniwa sugagasa okifurushi nochi wa ta ga kimu kasa naranaku ni

おしてる難波菅笠置き古し
後は誰が着む笠ならなくに

Roma-ji: Oshiteru naniwa sugagasa okifurushi nochi wa ta ga kimu kasa naranaku ni
English Translation: Of shining Naniwa
the sedge hat you have left
to grow old, unused;
who afterward would wear it?
it is no hat for another
Meaning: You have left the sedge hat of Naniwa lying unused until it grows old; yet it is not a hat that anyone else will wear later on.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2819

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Questions and Answers"
The speaker reproaches the other for leaving a sedge hat of Naniwa unused until it grows old, though it is no hat that anyone else would wear later. The hat stands for the speaker, and the poem holds the pain of being left alone to age after vows were exchanged, along with the feeling of belonging to no one but the other.
As the left note "the two poems above" shows, this answering poem forms a pair with the preceding one. Where the preceding poem told of years passing while waiting for the day to wear the sedge hat, this one replies, from the side of the hat and with reproach, that it is the other who has left it lying until it grew old. Against the preceding poem's "sedge of Saki Marsh" it sets the "sedge hat of Naniwa" from another place, and the two also correspond in placing a pillow word in the first line.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "oshiteru": a pillow word attached to Naniwa, said to arise from the sun shining over the whole sea of Naniwa. The line has only four syllables, one short of the norm.
Second line, "naniwa sugagasa": "a sedge hat of Naniwa," a hat woven from the sedge of Naniwa, whose inlets were known for growing sedge.
Third line, "okifurushi": "left unused to grow old." Likening herself to the hat, the speaker describes a self that, though pledged, ages without being cared for. A pause falls after the third line.
Fourth line, "nochi wa ta ga kimu": "who would wear it afterward?" "Mu" is the conjectural auxiliary, expressing that there is no one else who would care for her.
Fifth line, "kasa naranaku ni": "though it is not such a hat." "Naku ni" is the nominalized form of the negative "zu" followed by "ni," closing the poem with reproach: it is a hat no one but you would wear.
Source: Manyoshu
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