Mizugaki no hisashiki toki yu koi sureba waga obi yurū asa yoi goto ni

瑞垣の久しき時ゆ恋すれば
我が帯緩ふ朝宵ごとに

Roma-ji: Mizugaki no hisashiki toki yu koi sureba waga obi yurū asa yoi goto ni
English Translation: Like a sacred fence
from long and distant days
I have loved you so
that my sash grows loose upon me
every morning, every eve
Meaning: Because I have loved you for so long a time, my sash grows looser with every morning and every evening.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems 3262

Headnote: "An envoy in a certain text reads"
This is an envoy to the chōka (3260) handed down in a certain text. So long has the speaker loved that the body has wasted, and the sash loosens each morning and evening. The idea of a sash slackening as one pines away is thought to come from the Tang tale “The Grotto of the Immortals,” and it resonates with 3273 of this book: “my body has become such that my usual sash would wrap three times.”
The poet is unknown. Book Thirteen is built mainly of anonymous chōka and their envoys, and many of its poems preserve the air of old songs and ritual verse.

The first line, “mizugaki no” (sacred fence), is a pillow word for “hisashi” (long-lasting), since shrine fences endure from ancient times.
In the second line, “yu” is a particle of origin: “ever since a long time.”
The third line, “koi sureba,” means “because I love,” a realized condition formed from the perfective with “ba.”
The fourth line, “waga obi yurū,” means “my sash loosens,” making the wasted body concrete through the slackened sash; the poem breaks here.
The closing line, “asa yoi goto ni,” means “every morning and evening,” stressing by inversion the daily wasting away.
Source: Manyoshu
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