Kamitsuke no kuroho no nero no kuzuhagata kanashike kora ni iyazakari kumo

上つ毛野久路保の嶺ろの葛葉がた
愛しけ子らにいや離り来も

Roma-ji: Kamitsuke no kuroho no nero no kuzuhagata kanashike kora ni iyazakari kumo
English Translation: In Kamitsuke,
on Kuroho's lofty peaks,
arrowroot creeps far:
from my darling girl, alas,
ever farther I have come.
Meaning: Like the arrowroot leaves creeping far over Kuroho's peaks in Kamitsuke, I have come ever farther from my darling girl.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3412

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like the arrowroot leaves creeping over the Kuroho peaks, the farther the singer travels the farther he is from his beloved. The endlessly stretching vine overlaps with the widening distance between them.
It is one of the Kōzuke poems. The peak of Kuroho is thought to be Mount Akagi in present-day Gunma.
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, "kamitsuke no": The old name of Kōzuke, opening as a Kōzuke poem.
Second line, "kuroho no nero no": "Kuroho no nero" is thought to be Mount Akagi, with the eastern suffix "ro."
Third line, "kuzuhagata": "Kuzuhagata" is thought to describe arrowroot leaves creeping outward. The first three lines form a preface leading to "sakari."
Fourth line, "kanashike kora ni": "Kanashike" is an eastern form of "kanashiki," dear.
Final line, "iyazakari kumo": "Iya" means ever more, "sakari kumo" means I have come away; "mo" is exclamatory.
Source: Manyoshu
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