Ashigari no hakone no nero no nikogusa no hanatsuzuma nare ya himo tokazu nemu

あしがりの箱根の嶺ろのにこ草の
花つ妻なれや紐解かず寝む

Roma-ji: Ashigari no hakone no nero no nikogusa no hanatsuzuma nare ya himo tokazu nemu
English Translation: At Ashigari,
on the peaks of Hakone,
soft grasses bloom:
is she a wife of flowers only,
that I must sleep with cords still tied?
Meaning: Is she a wife to be gazed at like the flowers of the soft grass on Hakone's peaks in Ashigari, that I must sleep without untying my sash?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3370

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like the flowers of soft grass on the Hakone peaks, is she a wife only to be looked at and never touched, the singer asks, lamenting that he must sleep alone with his sash still tied. It holds the resentment of meeting yet not being able to share a bed.
It is one of the Sagami poems and the third in a row, from 3368, to begin "Ashigari no." After 3364, the Hakone hills are sung again.
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, "ashigari no": The same opening as the two preceding poems, naming Ashigara.
Second line, "hakone no nero no": The "ro" of "nero" is an eastern suffix; the line means the peaks of Hakone.
Third line, "nikogusa no": A soft grass; the first three lines form a preface leading to "flower."
Fourth line, "hanatsuzuma nare ya": "Hanatsuzuma" is thought to mean a wife to be admired like a flower; "nare ya" is a rhetorical question, implying she ought not to be.
Final line, "himo tokazu nemu": Sleeping without untying one's sash, that is, without lying together; "mu" ends in lamenting conjecture.
Source: Manyoshu
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