Yakatao no taka o te ni sue Mishimano ni karanu hi maneku tsuki zo henikeru

矢形尾の鷹を手に据ゑ三島野に
猟らぬ日まねく月ぞ経にける

Roma-ji: Yakatao no taka o te ni sue Mishimano ni karanu hi maneku tsuki zo henikeru
English Translation: My hawk, its tail
barred with arrow markings,
perched upon my fist—
no days of hunting on Mishima moor,
and thus a month has gone by
Meaning: Without setting my arrow-tailed hawk on my fist and hunting on Mishima moor, day after day has gone by, until a whole month has passed.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 4012

Headnote: "A poem, with tanka, composed in joy after dreaming, as I longed for my hawk that had flown away"—envoy
Days without hunting on Mishima moor, the arrow-tailed hawk on his fist, have piled up until a month has passed—a poem grieving for the lost hawk. This is an envoy to the chōka Yakamochi composed on the twenty-sixth day of the ninth month of 747, longing for a hawk that had flown away and rejoicing at a prophecy received in a dream. According to the left note, a goshawk caught at Furue Village in Imizu District was beautiful in form and excelled at taking pheasants, but the falconer Yamada no Fubito Kimimaro mistimed its training, and during a hunt it rode the wind high into the clouds and would not return to the lure. So nets were spread and offerings made to the gods; then in a dream a maiden appeared and told him not to grieve, for the hawk would be recovered before long. Waking in joy, he composed poems to dispel his regret. It expresses the emptiness of days passed without going hunting after losing his beloved hawk.
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 records how the hawk escaped and the dream's prophecy, ending, "Governor Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi (composed on the twenty-sixth day of the ninth month)."

First line, "yakatao no": having tail feathers barred in arrow shapes, taking up "my Ōguro, arrow-tailed" in the chōka; Ōguro was the name of the lost goshawk.
Second line, "taka o te ni sue": "setting the hawk on my fist," the figure of a falconer.
Third line, "Mishimano ni": Mishima moor in Imizu District; the chōka too says the hawk flew off "leaving Mishima moor behind."
Fourth line, "karanu hi maneku": maneshi means many—"days without hunting piling up."
Fifth line, "tsuki zo henikeru": zo with the attributive keru forms a binding—"a month has passed," a lament.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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