Ashihiki no yamaki henarite tōkedomo kokoro shi yukeba ime ni miekeri

あしひきの山きへなりて遠けども
心し行けば夢に見えけり

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yamaki henarite tōkedomo kokoro shi yukeba ime ni miekeri
English Translation: Foot-dragging mountains
lie between us, far away,
and yet since my heart
goes out to you across them,
in my dreams you have appeared
Meaning: Though the mountains lie between us and you are far away, because my heart goes out to you, you have appeared in my dreams.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3981

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Envoy to a poem, with tanka, setting forth my longing"
Though mountains divide them and she is far away, because his heart goes to her, she appeared in his dreams—a poem of the bond of hearts with a distant wife. 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. He finds a little comfort in the heart's passage across the distance.
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, "ashihiki no": a pillow word for mountains.
Second line, "yamaki henarite": ki is sometimes taken as a prefix, and henaru means to be separated—"the mountains lie between."
Third line, "tōkedomo": "though it is far," running on adversatively.
Fourth line, "kokoro shi yukeba": shi is emphatic—"because my heart goes to her."
Fifth line, "ime ni miekeri": "she has appeared in my dreams." In 3977 of this book the dream is attributed to the other's longing; this poem, attributing it to his own heart's journey, forms a contrast.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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