Tachibana no nioeru sono ni hototogisu naku to hito tsugu ami sasamashi o

橘のにほへる園に霍公鳥
鳴くと人告ぐ網ささましを

Roma-ji: Tachibana no nioeru sono ni hototogisu naku to hito tsugu ami sasamashi o
English Translation: In the garden where
the orange blossoms are sweet
the hototogisu
is singing, someone tells me—
if only I had spread my net
Meaning: Someone tells me the hototogisu is singing in the garden where the orange blossoms are fragrant—oh, if only I had spread a net!
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3918

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Six poems composed on the fifth day of the fourth month of the sixteenth year, while living alone at my old house in Heijō"
Told that a hototogisu is singing in the garden of blooming orange trees, the poet regrets not having spread a net. This is one of six poems Yakamochi composed on the fifth day of the fourth month of 744, living alone in his old house at Heijō, which had become a former capital as the court moved from Kuni to Naniwa. Learning secondhand of a song he himself missed, he laments that he could not keep the bird.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito. Appointed Governor of Etchū in 746, he spent five years there, later serving as Junior Counselor and Governor of Inaba before rising to Middle Counselor. He is thought to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū.
The left note reads, "The above six poems were composed by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi on the fifth day of the fourth month of the sixteenth year of Tenpyō, living alone in his old house in his home town of Heijō."

First line, "tachibana no": the same opening as 3916 in this book.
Second line, "nioeru sono ni": "in the garden where the oranges are in sweet bloom," using the same nioeru as "nioeru ka" in 3916.
Third line, "hototogisu": the bird come to the orange garden.
Fourth line, "naku to hito tsugu": "someone tells me it is singing," where the poem pauses; it suggests that the poet himself did not hear it.
Fifth line, "ami sasamashi o": mashi expresses a counterfactual and o is exclamatory—"if only I had spread a net!" It takes up the supposition "ami sasaba" in the preceding poem, 3917, closing with regret that he did not.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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