Matamatsuku ochi o shi kanete omoe koso hitoe no koromo hitori kite nure

真玉つくをちをし兼ねて思へこそ
一重の衣ひとり着て寝れ

Roma-ji: Matamatsuku ochi o shi kanete omoe koso hitoe no koromo hitori kite nure
English Translation: Like jewels on a cord,
looking far into the days ahead
I think of you, and so
in a single layer of robe
I lie down to sleep alone
Meaning: It is because I think of us far into the years ahead that I lie down alone, wrapped in a single thin robe.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 2853

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
The poet endures a lonely night in a single thin robe precisely because of trust in their future together. The depth of feeling lies in this faith in the future that sustains the pain of sleeping alone.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet who served under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. The left note shows that this poem was taken from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, though scholars differ on whether it is Hitomaro's own work or a song he recorded.

Line one, "matamatsuku," is a pillow word from threading jewels on a cord ("o"), leading to "ochi," which shares that sound. Poem 2973 in this book also opens "matamatsuku ochikochi kanete."
Line two, "ochi o shi kanete": "ochi" is the distant future and "kanete" means anticipating, so the line means "looking ahead to the days to come."
Line three, "omoe koso": the realis form with "koso" gives a fixed condition, "precisely because I think so," and forms a kakari-musubi with the realis "nure" in line five.
Line four, "hitoe no koromo," is a thin unlined robe, evoking the chill of having no one to share the bed.
Line five, "hitori kite nure," means "I wear it and sleep alone," concluding in the realis form in answer to "koso."
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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