Aratama no toshi kaeru made aimineba kokoro mo shino ni omohoyuru kamo

あらたまの年返るまで相見ねば
心もしのに思ほゆるかも

Roma-ji: Aratama no toshi kaeru made aimineba kokoro mo shino ni omohoyuru kamo
English Translation: The year, new as rough gems,
has come round again, and yet
we have not once met—
my heart bends low, drooping,
as I think of you, my wife
Meaning: Since we have not met until the year has turned, my heart droops with longing as I think of you.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3979

Headnote: "Envoy to a poem, with tanka, setting forth my longing"
Not having met until the year has turned, he thinks of her until his heart droops—a poem of longing for his wife in the capital. This is an envoy to the chōka Yakamochi composed on the night of the twentieth day of the third month of 747, when longing for the wife he had left in the capital suddenly welled up. The chōka tells how, since he came down to Etchū by royal command, the year has turned and the spring flowers faded without their meeting; how, though he sees her in dreams, longing has piled up for want of meeting in waking life; and how, when the month of the hototogisu comes, he hopes to go by the Ōmi road to his house in Nara and quickly meet his wife, who stands at the gate waiting. As if summing up the chōka, it speaks of the long months without meeting and the depth of his longing.
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 was composed when longing suddenly arose in the night of the twentieth day of the third month. Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi."

First line, "aratama no": a pillow word for the year.
Second line, "toshi kaeru made": "until the year turns," taking up "toshi yukigaeri" in the chōka.
Third line, "aimineba": "since we have not met"; the same line stands third in 3982 of this book, repeated among the envoys.
Fourth line, "kokoro mo shino ni": shino ni means drooping, deeply moved.
Fifth line, "omohoyuru kamo": "how you come to my mind," kamo being exclamatory.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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