Toyokuni no Kiku no hamamatsu nemokoro ni nanishika imo ni aiisomekemu

豊国の企救の浜松ねもころに
何しか妹に相言ひそめけむ

Roma-ji: Toyokuni no Kiku no hamamatsu nemokoro ni nanishika imo ni aiisomekemu
English Translation: Like the beach pines' roots
at Kiku in the land of Toyo,
so deeply, why
did I ever start to speak
with my darling girl
Meaning: Like the deep roots of the beach pines at Kiku in Toyo, why did I ever begin exchanging such earnest words with her?
Commentary: Book Twelve Thoughts Arising on Journeys 3130

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Thoughts Arising on Journeys"
Using the beach pines at Kiku in Toyo as an introduction, the poet laments having begun to exchange such earnest words with the girl. It shows a feeling somewhere between regret and grief at having found someone to love deeply on the journey. The four poems from the Hitomaro Collection end with this one.
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, "Toyokuni no," means "of the land of Toyo," corresponding to eastern Fukuoka and Ōita Prefectures today.
Line two, "Kiku no hamamatsu," means "the beach pines at Kiku" in Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka, and the lines up to here form an introduction leading from the pines' roots to "nemokoro." The beach at Kiku also appears in poems 3219 and 3220 in this book.
Line three, "nemokoro ni," means "earnestly."
Line four, "nanishika imo ni," means "why, with my beloved," corresponding to "kemu" in line five.
Line five, "aiisomekemu," means "did I begin to exchange words?", a hypermetric line of eight syllables.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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