Shimotsuke no mikamo no yama no konara nosu maguwashi koro wa ta ga ke ka motamu

下つ毛野みかもの山のこ楢のす
まぐはし子ろは誰が笥か持たむ

Roma-ji: Shimotsuke no mikamo no yama no konara nosu maguwashi koro wa ta ga ke ka motamu
English Translation: In Shimotsuke,
on the mountain of Mikamo,
like the young oak trees,
that lovely girl, so fair—whose bowl
will she one day carry, I wonder?
Meaning: That girl, as lovely as the young oaks on Mount Mikamo in Shimotsuke—whose food bowl will she carry, whose wife will she become?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3424

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
The singer wonders whose wife the girl, beautiful as the young oak leaves of Mount Mikamo, will become and whose meals she will serve. Longing for a young girl and the frustration that she may be beyond reach show through.
This and the next poem are from Shimotsuke Province, present-day Tochigi, as the left note says: "The two poems above are from Shimotsuke Province." Mount Mikamo straddles present-day Tochigi City and Sano.
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, "shimotsuke no": The old name of Shimotsuke, opening the first Shimotsuke poem; "Shimotsuke" answers the "Kamitsuke" of the Kōzuke poems.
Second line, "mikamo no yama no": Mount Mikamo, a mountain in Shimotsuke.
Third line, "konara nosu": "Konara" is a small oak, and "nosu" is an eastern form meaning "like." The first three lines form a preface.
Fourth line, "maguwashi koro wa": "Maguwashi" means lovely, beautiful.
Final line, "ta ga ke ka motamu": "Ke" is a food bowl: to carry someone's bowl is to become his wife. "Ka" is an interrogative binding particle answered by "mu."
Source: Manyoshu
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