Kaze no to no tōki wagimo ga kiseshi kinu tamoto no kudari mayoikinikeri

風の音の遠き我妹が着せし衣
手本のくだりまよひ来にけり

Roma-ji: Kaze no to no tōki wagimo ga kiseshi kinu tamoto no kudari mayoikinikeri
English Translation: As the wind's far sound,
far away, my wife at home
dressed me in this robe:
now the seams along its sleeve
have come fraying, thread by thread.
Meaning: The robe my wife, far away as the sound of the wind, put on me—its sleeve seams have begun to fray.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3453

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Miscellaneous Poems"
Seeing the sleeve seams of the robe his distant wife put on him begin to fray, the traveler keenly feels the length of his journey and the distance between them. In the small discovery of fraying cloth, homesickness seeps through.
It is one of the miscellaneous poems. The idea of thinking of a wife at home through a garment echoes 3350, "kimi ga mikeshi shi ayani kihoshimo."
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, "kaze no to no": A pillow word for "far," since the sound of the wind is heard from afar.
Second line, "tōki wagimo ga": "Wagimo" is an intimate word for one's wife, here far away.
Third line, "kiseshi kinu": The robe she dressed him in, thought to have been put on him when he set out.
Fourth line, "tamoto no kudari": "Tamoto" is the sleeve, and "kudari" the line of a seam.
Final line, "mayoikinikeri": "Mayou" is for threads to fray, and "nikeri" marks completion with exclamation.
Source: Manyoshu
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