Akagoma ga kadode o shitsutsu idekate ni seshi o mitateshi ie no kora wa mo

赤駒が門出をしつつ出でかてに
せしを見立てし家の子らはも

Roma-ji: Akagoma ga kadode o shitsutsu idekate ni seshi o mitateshi ie no kora wa mo
English Translation: The chestnut horse
even as we left the gate
could hardly go,
and she watched us setting out—
my dear girl at home, ah me.
Meaning: My girl at home, who watched as even my chestnut horse, setting out from the gate, could hardly bring itself to leave—how is she now?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3534

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
On the day he set out, even his chestnut horse hesitated to leave the gate, and the traveler remembers his wife who watched them go. The horse's reluctance is laid over his own pain at parting.
It is one of the love exchanges, as the horse poems continue. Its last line, like "ie no koro wa mo" in 3532, ends thinking of the wife at home.
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, "akagoma ga": A chestnut horse; "akagoma" also appears in 3536 and 3540.
Second line, "kadode o shitsutsu": Setting out from the gate, with "tsutsu" marking continuation.
Third line, "idekate ni": "Kate ni" means unable: hardly able to leave.
Fourth line, "seshi o mitateshi": "She saw us off as it hesitated."
Final line, "ie no kora wa mo": "Wa mo" is exclamatory, thinking of the wife at home as in "ie no koro wa mo" in 3532.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Hito no ko no kanashike shida wa hamasudori anayumu koma no oshikeku mo nashi
Next Poem: Onoga o o ōni na omoi so niwa ni tachi emasu ga kara ni koma ni au mono o