Ashigara no hakone no yama ni awa makite mi to wa nareru o awanaku mo ayashi

足柄の箱根の山に粟蒔きて
実とはなれるを粟無くもあやし

Roma-ji: Ashigara no hakone no yama ni awa makite mi to wa nareru o awanaku mo ayashi
English Translation: On Ashigara,
on the hills of Hakone,
I sowed millet seed,
and it bore its grain in full—
yet no millet: how strange it is.
Meaning: On the hills of Hakone in Ashigara I sowed millet, and it came to fruit—yet there is no millet, no meeting. How strange.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3364

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
He sowed millet on the hills of Hakone and it bore fruit, yet there is no millet; punning on "awa" (millet) and "awa" (meet), the singer marvels that though their love has ripened they cannot meet. Borrowing the language of farming, the wordplay lends the lightness of folk song.
The left note gives a variant ending from another book: "hau kuzu no hikaba yorikone shita nao nao ni." It is one of the Sagami poems.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.

First line, "ashigara no": Ashigara in Sagami; after 3361, the place name returns.
Second line, "hakone no yama ni": The Hakone hills of Ashigara. Poem 3370 of this book also sings of "the peak of Hakone."
Third line, "awa makite": Sowing millet on slash-and-burn fields in the hills, a scene of mountain life.
Fourth line, "mi to wa nareru o": "Mi" is the millet grain and also love coming to fruit. "O" is concessive.
Final line, "awanaku mo ayashi": "Awanaku" (no millet) puns on "awanaku" (not meeting). "Ayashi" means strange. The line is hypermetric.
Source: Manyoshu
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