Toshi no heba mitsutsu shinoe to imo ga iishi koromo no nuime mireba kanashi mo

年の経ば見つつ偲へと妹が言ひし
衣の縫目見れば悲しも

Roma-ji: Toshi no heba mitsutsu shinoe to imo ga iishi koromo no nuime mireba kanashi mo
English Translation: "When the years go by,
look at this and think of me,"
so my darling said;
when I see the seams she sewed
upon this robe, I grieve
Meaning: "When the years go by, look at this and remember me," my wife said; when I see the stitches of the robe she sewed, I am filled with sorrow.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 2967

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A man grieves as he looks at the stitches of a robe his wife entrusted to him, saying that when years pass he should look at it and remember her. In the seams, the trace of her handiwork, he sees her image.
The poet is unknown. Book Twelve, titled the second part of "Love Poems Exchanged Old and New," gathers love poems by people whose names have not come down to us, arranged by category.

Line one, "toshi no heba," means "when the years pass."
Line two, "mitsutsu shinoe to," means "look at this and remember me."
Line three, "imo ga iishi," means "my wife said," and everything up to here quotes her words.
Line four, "koromo no nuime," means "the seams of the robe she sewed," in which he sees her image.
Line five, "mireba kanashi mo," means "when I see them I grieve."
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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