Hitori nomi kinuru koromo no himo tokaba tare ka mo yuwamu ie tōkushite

ひとりのみ着寝る衣の紐解かば
誰れかも結はむ家遠くして

Roma-ji: Hitori nomi kinuru koromo no himo tokaba tare ka mo yuwamu ie tōkushite
English Translation: The robe I wear
to sleep in all alone,
if its cords I untie,
who is there to tie them,
with home so far away
Meaning: If I were to untie the cords of the robe I wear to sleep alone, who would tie them for me again, with home so far away?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3715

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Eighteen poems composed while anchored at Takashiki Bay, each expressing his feelings"
He sings that if he unties the cords of the robe he wears to sleep alone, there is no one to tie them again, with home so far away. The cords of a robe were tied by the wife at parting, a token of the promise not to untie them until reunion. At the end of a long journey he savors anew the feeling of 3585 of this book, in which the husband vowed in the parting exchange never to untie the cords.
According to the headnote, this is one of eighteen poems composed while anchored at Takashiki Bay, each expressing his feelings. Takashiki Bay lies within Asō Bay in Tsushima, thought to be present-day Takeshiki in Mitsushima, Tsushima City, Nagasaki Prefecture. The last nine poems of the sequence have no left notes, and the author of this poem is not named.

First line, "hitori nomi": all alone, showing sleeping alone without his wife.
Second line, "kinuru koromo no": "kinu" means to sleep while wearing: the robe I wear to sleep alone.
Third line, "himo tokaba": a hypothetical condition: if I untie the cords.
Fourth line, "tare ka mo yuwamu": "ka" is an interrogative binding particle resolved by the attributive "mu": who would tie them? The poem breaks after the fourth line.
Fifth line, "ie tōkushite": since home is far away, inverted with the fourth line.
Source: Manyoshu
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