Matsugaeri shii nite are kamo sayamada no oji ga sono hi ni motome awazukemu

松反りしひにてあれかもさ山田の
翁がその日に求めあはずけむ

Roma-ji: Matsugaeri shii nite are kamo sayamada no oji ga sono hi ni motome awazukemu
English Translation: Like pine roots twisting,
was he gone dull, I wonder,
that old Yamada,
that on the very day itself
he searched and failed to find it
Meaning: Had he grown dull-witted, I wonder—old Yamada—that on that very day he searched and failed to find my hawk?
Commentary: Book Seventeen 4014

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem, with tanka, composed in joy after dreaming, as I longed for my hawk that had flown away"—envoy
Was it because he had grown senile that old Yamada searched in vain for the hawk that day?—a poem reproaching the falconer who let the hawk escape. 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. In the chōka too he curses the falconer as "that crazed old wretch," and this poem repeats the grievance with a touch of humor.
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, "matsugaeri": a pillow word for shii whose connection is unclear; it is considered a difficult word.
Second line, "shii nite are kamo": shiu means for body and mind to grow dull, senile, and kamo is an interrogative particle bound to kemu in the last line—"was it because he was senile?"
Third line, "sayamada no": sa is a prefix, and the falconer Yamada no Fubito Kimimaro's name is played on as "mountain rice field."
Fourth line, "oji ga sono hi ni": oji means an old man, taking up "that wretched old man" in the chōka.
Fifth line, "motome awazukemu": "he must have searched and not come upon it," kemu expressing conjecture about the past. It reproaches the falconer's failure to find the hawk.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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