Wagimoko ni Ausakayama o koete kite nakitsutsu oredo au yoshi mo nashi

我妹子に逢坂山を越えて来て
泣きつつ居れど逢ふよしもなし

Roma-ji: Wagimoko ni Ausakayama o koete kite nakitsutsu oredo au yoshi mo nashi
English Translation: To meet my dear wife,
the Mount of Meeting Slope
I crossed and came here,
and though I weep and weep
there is no way to meet
Meaning: I crossed Mount Ausaka, whose name speaks of meeting my dear wife, and came here; yet though I weep and weep, there is no way for us to meet.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3762

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
He laments that though he crossed Mount Ausaka, whose name speaks of meeting his wife, there is no way to meet her however much he weeps. Echoing "au" (meet) in the place name Ausaka, he expresses the irony of a reality in which, contrary to the name, they cannot meet. Mount Ausaka is the mountain on the border of Yamashiro and Ōmi, crossed on the road to Echizen.
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 thirteen poems are by Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori"; the thirteen poems from 3754 to 3766 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 ni": to my dear wife; through the sense of "meeting" it serves as a preface leading into "Ausaka" in the second line.
Second line, "Ausakayama o": the mountain on the border of Yamashiro and Ōmi, whose name contains "au" (meet).
Third line, "koete kite": having crossed Mount Ausaka on the road to Echizen.
Fourth line, "nakitsutsu oredo": though I keep weeping, turning with an adversative.
Fifth line, "au yoshi mo nashi": "yoshi" is a means: there is no way to meet, the poem ends, its contrast with "Ausaka" ringing with irony.
Author: Nakatomi no Yakamori
Source: Manyoshu
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