Miwayama no yamashita toyomi yuku mizu no mio shi taezu wa nochi mo waga tsuma

三輪山の山下響み行く水の
水脈し絶えずは後も我が妻

Roma-ji: Miwayama no yamashita toyomi yuku mizu no mio shi taezu wa nochi mo waga tsuma
English Translation: At Mount Miwa's foot
the waters roar and run;
so long as their course
is never broken, you
will always be my wife
Meaning: As long as the waters that roar along the foot of Mount Miwa never cease to flow, you will be my wife for all time.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3014

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
A man vows that as long as the river roaring at the foot of Mount Miwa never ceases, she will be his wife forever. The powerful scene of water flowing at the foot of the sacred mountain lends certainty to the vow.
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, "Miwayama no," refers to the sacred mountain in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture.
Line two, "yamashita toyomi," means "roaring along the foot of the mountain."
Line three, "yuku mizu no," means "of the flowing water."
Line four, "mio shi taezu wa," means "so long as the channel does not fail." Poem 2860 in this book likewise likens love to an unbroken flow of water.
Line five, "nochi mo waga tsuma," means "my wife hereafter as well," declared firmly in a closing noun.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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