Tamakushige Futagamiyama ni naku tori no koe no koishiki toki wa kinikeri

玉櫛笥二上山に鳴く鳥の
声の恋しき時は来にけり

Roma-ji: Tamakushige Futagamiyama ni naku tori no koe no koishiki toki wa kinikeri
English Translation: On Futagami,
like the lid of a jewel box,
the birds that sing there—
the season of longing
for their voices has now come
Meaning: The season has come when I long for the voices of the birds that sing on Mount Futagami, lovely as a jeweled comb box.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3987

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Envoy to a rhapsody on Mount Futagami (this mountain is in Imizu District)"
The season has come for longing to hear the birds sing on Mount Futagami—a poem sensing the arrival of summer. This is an envoy to the chōka "A Rhapsody on Mount Futagami," composed by Yakamochi as the mood took him on the thirtieth day of the third month of 747. The term fu ("rhapsody") borrows the name of a Chinese literary genre, and together with "A Rhapsody on an Outing to the Fuse Lagoon" and "A Rhapsody on Mount Tachiyama" in this book it forms the so-called Three Rhapsodies of Etchū. The chōka praises Mount Futagami, encircled by the Imizu River, as noble because divine and desirable to see because a mountain, whether in the spring flowers' prime or among the autumn leaves; like the waves breaking on the rocks of Cape Shibutani at its foot, everyone who sees it, from ancient times to now, will hold it dear. Composed on the thirtieth day of the third month, the last day of spring, with summer beginning the next day, it suggests a heart waiting for the birds of Futagami, above all the hototogisu.
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 as the mood arose, on the thirtieth day of the third month. Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi."

First line, "tamakushige": "jeweled comb box," a pillow word for Futagami through futa ("lid"). Haji no Michiyoshi's 3955 also sings of Mount Futagami with the same pillow word.
Second line, "Futagamiyama ni": the mountain rising north of the Etchū provincial office, praised in the chōka.
Third line, "naku tori no": the birds that sing on Futagami, suggesting, by the season, the hototogisu.
Fourth line, "koe no koishiki": "when their voices are longed for."
Fifth line, "toki wa kinikeri": "the time has come," an exclamation of realization. Like "tsuki wa kinikeri" in 3921, it closes by sensing the arrival of a season.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Shibutani no saki no ariso ni yosuru nami iya shikushiku ni inishie omohoyu
Next Poem: Nubatama no tsuki ni mukaite hototogisu naku oto harukeshi satodōmi kamo