Urabe o mo yaso no chimata mo ura toedo kimi o aimimu tadoki shirazu mo

占部をも八十の衢も占問へど
君を相見むたどき知らずも

Roma-ji: Urabe o mo yaso no chimata mo ura toedo kimi o aimimu tadoki shirazu mo
English Translation: Of the diviners,
and at the eighty crossroads,
though I asked the signs,
of a way to see you, love,
no sign at all have I found.
Meaning: I have asked the diviners and sought omens at the many crossroads, yet I find no way at all to see you again.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3812

Headnote continued from the chōka 3811: "Envoy."
The maiden laments that though she consulted diviners and crossroad omens, she can find no way to meet her love. After the chōka speaks of a love so painful she is ready to die, this envoy sums up her despair at being unable to see him despite every divination.
According to the left note, a maiden of the Kurumochi clan fell ill from longing when her husband stopped visiting for years; wasting day by day, she neared death. She sent a messenger to summon him, and sobbing, recited this poem and then breathed her last.
The poet is a maiden of the Kurumochi clan, a woman of legend whose personal name is not recorded. The Kurumochi clan is said to have been in charge of the emperor's palanquins.

First line, "urabe o mo," means "of the diviners too." Urabe were specialists who divined by heating tortoise shells and similar means.
Second line, "yaso no chimata mo," means "at the many crossroads too," where evening divination by passersby's words was practiced.
Third line, "ura toedo," means "though I divined," taking up the two kinds of divination and turning to the lines that follow.
Fourth line, "kimi o aimimu," means "to meet you," modifying tadoki in the final line.
Final line, "tadoki shirazu mo," means "I know no way." It matches the final line of poem 3850, "tazuki shirazu mo," so that a lament of love and a lament of life's impermanence end on the same phrase.
Author: A Maiden of the Kurumochi Clan
Source: Manyoshu
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