Izumigawa watarize fukami waga seko ga tabiyukigoromo hizuchinamu kamo

泉川渡り瀬深み我が背子が
旅行き衣ひづちなむかも

Roma-ji: Izumigawa watarize fukami waga seko ga tabiyukigoromo hizuchinamu kamo
English Translation: The Izumi River—
its fording place runs deep, and so
my own dear husband,
the robes he wears on his journey
will be soaked right through, I fear
Meaning: The ford of the Izumi River is deep—I fear the traveling clothes of my husband will be drenched through.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Dialogue Poems 3315

Headnote: "Envoy"
This is the envoy to the dialogue chōka (3314). Because the ford of the Izumi River is deep, she worries that the clothes of her husband, traveling on foot, will be soaked. In the chōka the wife pleads with him: other women’s husbands ride along the Yamashiro road while hers goes on foot, and every time she sees it she weeps—so take the mirror and scarf her mother left her and buy a horse. The envoy entrusts the wife’s concern for her husband’s hardship to the concrete image of wet clothes.
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, “Izumigawa,” is today’s Kizu River in southern Kyoto Prefecture, crossed on the way along the Yamashiro road.
In the second line, “mi” attached to an adjective stem gives a reason: “because the ford is deep.”
The third line, “waga seko ga,” means “my husband,” “seko” being a woman’s affectionate word for husband or lover.
The fourth line, “tabiyukigoromo,” means the clothes worn setting out on a journey, calling up the image of her husband on foot.
In the closing line, “hizutsu” means to be drenched; with the emphatic “nu,” the conjectural “mu” and the exclamatory “kamo,” she frets that they will surely be soaked.
Source: Manyoshu
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