Ine tsukeba kakaru a ga te o koyoi mo ka tono no wakugo ga torite nagekamu

稲つけばかかる我が手を今夜もか
殿の若子が取りて嘆かむ

Roma-ji: Ine tsukeba kakaru a ga te o koyoi mo ka tono no wakugo ga torite nagekamu
English Translation: When I pound the rice,
my hands grow chapped and cracked like this:
tonight again, will
the young lord of the great house
take them in his and sigh?
Meaning: Tonight again, will the young lord of the manor take my hands, cracked from pounding rice, and sigh over them?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3459

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Will the young lord of the manor again tonight take her hands, chapped from pounding rice, and sigh in pity? So a woman sings. Love across rank and shame at hands roughened by labor mingle here, and it is known as one of the finest Azuma poems.
It is one of the love exchanges. Some think it was a work song sung while pounding rice. The miscellaneous poem 3438 also mentions a local magnate's son, "tono no nakachi."
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, "ine tsukeba": "When I pound rice," the labor of pounding rice in a mortar.
Second line, "kakaru a ga te o": "Kakaru" means for skin to crack and chap: her roughened hands.
Third line, "koyoi mo ka": "Ka" is an interrogative binding particle answered by "mu" in the last line.
Fourth line, "tono no wakugo ga": "Tono" is the master of the house and "wakugo" his young son, a local magnate's son like "tono no nakachi" in 3438.
Final line, "torite nagekamu": "Nagekamu" is conjecture completing the binding with "ka": will he sigh?
Source: Manyoshu
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