Tama ni nuku hanatachibana o tomoshimi shi kono waga sato ni kinakazu arurashi

玉に貫く花橘をともしみし
この我が里に来鳴かずあるらし

Roma-ji: Tama ni nuku hanatachibana o tomoshimi shi kono waga sato ni kinakazu arurashi
English Translation: Since the orange flowers
that we thread as beads for charms
are so scarce up here,
to this village where I live
it seems the bird will not come to sing
Meaning: It seems that because the orange blossoms we thread as festival beads are so scarce, the hototogisu does not come to sing in this village of mine.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3984

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "It is already some days into the fourth month since summer began, and still I have not heard the hototogisu call; so I composed two poems of complaint"
Because orange blossoms, threaded as festival beads, are scarce, the hototogisu seems not to come and sing in this village—a poem guessing at the reason for its silence. This is one of two poems Yakamochi composed in Etchū on the twenty-ninth day of the third month of 747, complaining that, though days had passed since the beginning of summer, he had yet to hear the hototogisu. According to the left note, the bird is sure to come and sing on the first day of summer, but Etchū is a land with few orange trees, and so he put his feelings into verse. Answering the question of the preceding poem himself, he takes the scarcity of tachibana in Etchū to be why the bird does not come.
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 hototogisu is certain to come and sing on the first day of summer. Moreover, oranges are rare in the climate of Etchū. Therefore Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi, stirred in his heart, composed these poems (twenty-ninth day of the third month)."

First line, "tama ni nuku": "to be threaded as beads" for the fifth-month festival. Fumimochi's 3910 opens with the same phrase, linking this to the memory of the day the brothers exchanged poems about the hototogisu.
Second line, "hanatachibana o": the orange tree in flower, paired with the hototogisu.
Third line, "tomoshimi shi": tomoshi means scarce, mi gives a reason, and shi is emphatic—"because they are scarce." This corresponds to the left note's "oranges are rare in the climate of Etchū."
Fourth line, "kono waga sato ni": "to this village of mine" in Etchū.
Fifth line, "kinakazu arurashi": rashi expresses inference from evidence—"it seems it does not come and sing." It closes by answering the question of the preceding poem, 3983.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ashihiki no yama mo chikaki o hototogisu tsuki tatsu made ni nani ka kinakanu
Next Poem: Shibutani no saki no ariso ni yosuru nami iya shikushiku ni inishie omohoyu