Yamatori no oro no hatsuo ni kagami kake tonaubemi koso na ni yosorikeme

山鳥の峰ろのはつをに鏡懸け
唱ふべみこそ汝に寄そりけめ

Roma-ji: Yamatori no oro no hatsuo ni kagami kake tonaubemi koso na ni yosorikeme
English Translation: The mountain pheasant's
long tail-tip, where on its end
a mirror is hung:
because they chanted, so it seems,
they linked my name with yours.
Meaning: As one hangs a mirror on the tip of the mountain pheasant's tail and chants, so people talked—and that is why they linked me with you.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3468

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
As though hanging a mirror and chanting to the gods, people must have made a fuss, and so the singer has been linked by gossip with the beloved. Borrowing the words of ritual, the poem sings of a love bound by rumor.
It is one of the love exchanges. Many words are obscure; some trace the mirror on the pheasant's tail to a legend that a male and female mountain pheasant, sleeping on separate peaks, long for each other through their reflections.
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, "yamatori no": A phrase leading to "oro no hatsuo"; the mountain pheasant was said to sleep apart from its mate across a ridge.
Second line, "oro no hatsuo ni": "Oro" is a tail and "hatsuo" thought to mean its tip: the pheasant's tail.
Third line, "kagami kake": "Hanging a mirror," thought to be tied to ritual.
Fourth line, "tonaubemi koso": "Tonau" is to chant or talk up; "bemi" is the stem of "beshi" with "mi," and "koso" is a binding particle.
Final line, "na ni yosorikeme": "Yosori" is being linked by rumor, and "keme" is the past conjecture completing "koso."
Source: Manyoshu
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