Koigoromo Kinara no yama ni naku tori no ma naku toki nashi aga kouraku wa

恋衣着奈良の山に鳴く鳥の
間なく時なし我が恋ふらくは

Roma-ji: Koigoromo Kinara no yama ni naku tori no ma naku toki nashi aga kouraku wa
English Translation: Like the birds that cry
on the hills of Nara, where
I wear love like a robe,
without a pause, at every hour,
such is this longing of mine
Meaning: Like the birds that cry in the hills of Nara, where I wear love like a well-worn robe, my longing knows no pause and no particular hour.
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3088

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
Using birds crying in the hills of Nara as an introduction, the poet sings of a longing that knows no pause and no particular hour. The word "koigoromo," love-robe, likens love to a garment that never leaves the body, and the poem pairs with the preceding one through the same final line.
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, "koigoromo," is a word likening love to a robe that never leaves the body.
Line two, "Kinara no yama ni," pivots on "kinaru," to wear a robe until it is familiar, and the place name Nara.
Line three, "naku tori no," means "like the crying birds," and the lines up to here form an introduction leading to "ma naku."
Line four, "ma naku toki nashi," means "without pause, at any hour." The same line appears in poem 3168 in this book.
Line five, "aga kouraku wa," means "in my longing," the same final line as the preceding poem.
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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