Umaguta no nero no sasaba no tsuyushimo no nurete wa kinaba na wa kouba zo mo

馬来田の嶺ろの笹葉の露霜の
濡れて我来なば汝は恋ふばぞも

Roma-ji: Umaguta no nero no sasaba no tsuyushimo no nurete wa kinaba na wa kouba zo mo
English Translation: At Umaguta,
on the bamboo grass of the peaks,
wet with dew and frost—
if I go off drenched like that,
how you will long for me then.
Meaning: If I set off drenched like the bamboo grass on the peaks of Umaguta, wet with dew and frost, how you will miss me.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3382

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
If he sets off on his journey soaked like the bamboo grass of the Umaguta hills in dew and frost, the singer says, the one left behind will surely long for him. The hardship of a journey through cold dew merges with the sorrow of parting.
The left note reads "The two poems above are from Kazusa Province." Umaguta is in Mōda District of Kazusa, thought to be near present-day Kisarazu in Chiba. Together with the next poem, it forms a pair beginning "Umaguta no."
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, "umaguta no": A place in Kazusa; the next poem opens with the same line.
Second line, "nero no sasaba no": "Nero" is an eastern word for peak, and the bamboo grass growing there.
Third line, "tsuyushimo no": Dew and frost; the first three lines form a preface leading to "nurete."
Fourth line, "nurete wa kinaba": "Naba" is suppositional: if I should come away drenched.
Final line, "na wa kouba zo mo": "Kouba zo mo" is thought to be an eastern form of "koimu zo mo": surely you will long for me.
Source: Manyoshu
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