Kusamakura tabi o kurushimi koioreba Kaya no yamabe ni saoshika naku mo

草枕旅を苦しみ恋ひ居れば
可也の山辺にさを鹿鳴くも

Roma-ji: Kusamakura tabi o kurushimi koioreba Kaya no yamabe ni saoshika naku mo
English Translation: Grass for a pillow,
pained by the journey,
as I lie longing,
from the slopes of Mount Kaya
a stag is calling out
Meaning: Pained by the journey, with grass for my pillow, I lie longing for home, and from the slopes of Mount Kaya a stag is calling.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3674

Headnote: "Seven poems composed while anchored at Hikitsu Lodge"
Pained by the hardships of travel and longing for home, he hears a stag cry on the slopes of Mount Kaya. The stag was said to call for its mate in autumn, and its voice echoes his own heart longing for his wife. In the sequence at Hikitsu Lodge, the voice of the deer is also sung in 3678 and 3680 besides this poem, so that the stag's cry on autumn nights repeatedly stirs the longing of the journey. Mount Kaya is the present-day Mount Kaya in Itoshima.
The author, Mibu no Udamaro, was an official who served as senior secretary (daihangan) of the embassy to Silla; he is also written Mibu no Omi Udamaro. A left note reads "the above two poems are by the senior secretary," assigning the first two poems at Hikitsu Lodge to him.
According to the headnote, this is one of seven poems composed while anchored at Hikitsu Lodge. Hikitsu was a harbor in Shima District, Chikuzen Province, thought to be near Hikitsu Bay in Shima, present-day Itoshima, Fukuoka Prefecture.

First line, "kusamakura": from tying grass for a pillow when sleeping on a journey, a pillow word for "tabi" (journey).
Second line, "tabi o kurushimi": "o ... mi" expresses a cause: since the journey is painful.
Third line, "koioreba": as I lie longing for home, a definite condition with the realis plus "ba."
Fourth line, "Kaya no yamabe ni": on the slopes of Mount Kaya, the mountain seen from Hikitsu Lodge.
Fifth line, "saoshika naku mo": "saoshika" is a stag, and "mo" exclamatory: a stag is calling, the poem ends. The voice of the stag seeking its mate overlaps with the poet's longing.
Author: Mibu no Udamaro
Source: Manyoshu
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