Wagimoko ga katami no koromo nakariseba nanimono mote ka inochi tsugamashi

我妹子が形見の衣なかりせば
何物もてか命継がまし

Roma-ji: Wagimoko ga katami no koromo nakariseba nanimono mote ka inochi tsugamashi
English Translation: If I did not have
this robe, my love's keepsake,
what else would there be
by which I could go on
holding on to life
Meaning: If I did not have this robe, my dear wife's keepsake, what else could I hold to that would keep me alive?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3733

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
He wonders by what he could keep himself alive if he did not have his wife's keepsake robe. It expresses a heart living through the days of exile with the robe given by the young woman at parting as its only support. Of the keepsake robe, the young woman too sings in 3753 of this book that she sewed it, distraught, as a keepsake until the day they meet, so the feelings of the giver and the receiver answer each other.
The author, Nakatomi no Yakamori, was a son of Nakatomi no Azumahito, from the Nakatomi clan in charge of the rites of the gods. He was exiled to Echizen Province for an offense, but was later pardoned and returned to the capital.
A left note reads "the above fourteen poems are by Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori"; the fourteen poems from 3731 to 3744 of this book were sent by Yakamori to the young woman from his place of exile. The latter half of this book contains sixty-three poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome. According to the book's table of contents, when Yakamori took as his wife the young woman, a lady-in-waiting of the palace storehouse office, he was exiled to Echizen Province by imperial decree. The place of exile is thought to be Ajimano in Echizen, near present-day Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture.

First line, "wagimoko ga": my dear wife's.
Second line, "katami no koromo": a "katami" is a keepsake recalling someone far away, here the robe the young woman gave him at parting.
Third line, "nakariseba": "seba" is a counterfactual condition answering "mashi" in the last line: if there were none.
Fourth line, "nanimono mote ka": "mote" means by using, and "ka" is an interrogative binding particle: by what?
Fifth line, "inochi tsugamashi": "tsugu" means to sustain, and "mashi" is counterfactual: could I keep my life going, the poem ends.
Author: Nakatomi no Yakamori
Source: Manyoshu
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