Kihatsuku no oka no kukumira ware tsumedo ko ni mo mitanau sena to tsumasane

伎波都久の岡のくくみら我れ摘めど
籠にも満たなふ背なと摘まさね

Roma-ji: Kihatsuku no oka no kukumira ware tsumedo ko ni mo mitanau sena to tsumasane
English Translation: At Kihatsuku,
on the hill the chives grow tall:
though I pick and pick,
my basket will not fill at all—
then go pick them with your man!
Meaning: "Though I pick the chives on the hill of Kihatsuku, my basket will not fill." "Then go and pick them with your sweetheart!"
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3444

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Miscellaneous Poems"
A girl complains that however many chives she picks on the hill of Kihatsuku her basket will not fill, and someone teases, then pick them with your sweetheart. It seems a bright, lively folk song sung back and forth among people working in the fields.
It is one of the miscellaneous poems. The hill of Kihatsuku is thought by some to be in Makabe District of Hitachi, near present-day Sakuragawa in Ibaraki. It is seen as an exchange song, the first half answered by the second.
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, "kihatsuku no": A place of unknown location, thought by some to be in Hitachi.
Second line, "oka no kukumira": "Kukumira" are chives with their stalks grown tall.
Third line, "ware tsumedo": "Though I pick," with "do" concessive.
Fourth line, "ko ni mo mitanau": "Ko" is a basket for gathered greens, and "nau" is an eastern negative.
Final line, "sena to tsumasane": "Sena" is a sweetheart, and "sane" adds respect and urging: go pick them together.
Source: Manyoshu
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