Tsukubane ni kaka naku washi no ne nomi o ka nakiwatarinamu au to wa nashi ni

筑波嶺にかか鳴く鷲の音のみをか
泣きわたりなむ逢ふとはなしに

Roma-ji: Tsukubane ni kaka naku washi no ne nomi o ka nakiwatarinamu au to wa nashi ni
English Translation: On Mount Tsukuba
the eagle cries out "kaka":
must I so cry out,
weeping on and on like that,
never once to meet with you?
Meaning: Like the eagle crying "kaka" on Mount Tsukuba, must I go on weeping aloud, never meeting you at all?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3390

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like the eagle crying sharply on Mount Tsukuba, must the singer go on weeping aloud without ever meeting the beloved? The eagle's cry echoing on the mountain magnifies the sorrow of unfulfilled love.
It is one of the Hitachi poems. That eagles lived on Tsukuba is also attested in Takahashi no Mushimaro's long poem on the utagaki of Mount Tsukuba in Book Nine, which speaks of "Tsukuba where the eagles dwell."
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, "tsukubane ni": Mount Tsukuba, as the Hitachi poems on the mountain continue.
Second line, "kaka naku washi no": "Kaka" imitates the eagle's cry. The first two lines form a preface leading to "ne."
Third line, "ne nomi o ka": "Ne" is a voice or cry, and "ka" is an interrogative binding particle answered by "mu."
Fourth line, "nakiwatarinamu": "Wataru" means to continue over time, and "namu" is the conjecture that completes the binding.
Final line, "au to wa nashi ni": "Without meeting," revealing through inversion, at the end, why the weeping goes on.
Source: Manyoshu
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