Waga seko wa tama ni mo gamo na hototogisu koe ni aenuki te ni makite yukamu

我が背子は玉にもがもな霍公鳥
声にあへ貫き手に巻きて行かむ

Roma-ji: Waga seko wa tama ni mo gamo na hototogisu koe ni aenuki te ni makite yukamu
English Translation: If only you, friend,
were a jewel, so that I
with hototogisu
song could thread you on a cord
and go wearing you on my wrist
Meaning: If only you were a jewel, my friend! I would thread you on a cord together with the hototogisu's song and wear you on my wrist as I go.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 4007

Headnote: the quatrain of "A poem, with one quatrain, expressing my feelings when the time to enter the capital drew near and I could not dispel my sorrow"
If his friend were a jewel, he would thread him on a cord together with the hototogisu's song and wear him on his wrist as he went—a poem regretting parting from Ikenushi before going up to the capital. It is the tanka attached to the chōka Yakamochi sent Ikenushi on the thirtieth day of the fourth month of 747, when the day of departure drew near and he could not dispel his sorrow. The chōka recalls how, like the hemlock standing hallowed on Mount Futagami, evergreen alike in root and branch, he talked each morning with his dear friend and in the evening went hand in hand to the riverbanks of the Imizu; how parting by the sovereign's command would make longing grow; and how, if his friend were a jewel threaded with the hototogisu's song, he would wear him on his wrist and gaze on him, so loath is he to leave him behind.
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 sent by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi to Secretary Ōtomo no Sukune Ikenushi (thirtieth day of the fourth month)."

First line, "waga seko wa": an address to a dear male friend, here Ikenushi.
Second line, "tama ni mo gamo na": "if only you were a jewel"; the poem pauses here. It shares its first two lines with 3990 of this book, and Ikenushi's reply, 4010, answers by changing it to "if only you were a flower."
Third line, "hototogisu": the bird of the season as the fifth month approaches, taking up the close of the chōka, "if only you were a jewel threaded with the hototogisu's song."
Fourth line, "koe ni aenuki": "threading it together with its song," a singular expression of mingling the bird's voice with the beads on the cord.
Fifth line, "te ni makite yukamu": "I would wear you on my wrist as I go," a hypermetric line of eight morae. Like "te ni makite mitsutsu yukamu o" in 3990, it voices the wish to wear a dear friend as a jewel.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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