Ashihiki no tamakazura no ko kyō no goto izure no kuma o mitsutsu ki ni kemu

あしひきの玉縵の子今日のごと
いづれの隈を見つつ来にけむ

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no tamakazura no ko kyō no goto izure no kuma o mitsutsu ki ni kemu
English Translation: Ah, jeweled vine,
my darling of the vine-wreath name,
as I do today,
past what shadowed nooks and bends
did you gaze as you came here?
Meaning: My jeweled-vine girl, past what hidden corners did you gaze as you came here, just as I wander here today?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3790

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Each set down his feelings in a poem; three poems."
The poet wonders what lonely corners the maiden looked upon as she came to this pond seeking her death. Walking the same path today, he imagines her solitary last journey along it.
It is by one of the three young men and closes the set of three. The opening ashihiki no is properly a pillow word for "mountain," and some texts read the second line as "mountain vine," but the reading "jeweled vine" is followed here.
The poets are the three young men who courted Kazurako; their names are not recorded. Introduced as "another tale," the story is set beside the Sakurako pair, so that a tale of two suitors is matched by one of three.

First line, "ashihiki no," repeats the opening of the preceding poem, 3789. Though a pillow word for "mountain," it is carried over from that poem and placed before "jeweled vine."
Second line, "tamakazura no ko," is a graceful name for Kazurako. Tama is an honorific prefix, and the phrase rephrases "mountain-vine girl" from the preceding poem.
Third line, "kyō no goto," means "as today." The poet overlays his own wandering by the pond today with the maiden's steps long before.
Fourth line, "izure no kuma o," means "which shadowed nooks." Kuma means a bend in the road or a hidden recess, suggesting the lonely way she took once resolved to die.
Final line, "mitsutsu ki ni kemu," means "did she gaze as she came?" The past conjectural kemu expresses tenderness toward a death he could not witness.
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ashihiki no yamakazura no ko kyō yuku to ware ni tsugeseba kaeri komashi o
Next Poem: Shinaba koso aimizu arame ikite araba shirokami kora ni oizu arame ya mo