Kokoro ni wa yurufu koto naku Suka no yama sukanaku nomi ya koiwatarinamu

心には緩ふことなく須加の山
すかなくのみや恋ひわたりなむ

Roma-ji: Kokoro ni wa yurufu koto naku Suka no yama sukanaku nomi ya koiwatarinamu
English Translation: In my heart there is
no slackening at all;
like Suka mountain,
so cheerless, must I go on
longing for it day by day
Meaning: My heart never eases; like the name of Mount Suka, must I go on longing for my hawk, joyless as I am?
Commentary: Book Seventeen 4015

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
His heart never eases—must he go on longing for the hawk without joy?—a poem of his attachment to the 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. Even after the dream's message, his heart will not clear until the hawk returns, and he expresses this through wordplay on a place name. It closes the envoys.
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, beginning "The above: a goshawk was caught at Furue Village in Imizu District; it was beautiful in form and outstanding in seizing pheasants," 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, "kokoro ni wa": "within my heart."
Second line, "yurufu koto naku": "without any slackening," his thoughts of the hawk never easing.
Third line, "Suka no yama": an unidentified mountain whose name, by repetition of sound, introduces sukanaku in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "sukanaku nomi ya": sukanashi means cheerless, unhappy, and ya is interrogative, bound to namu in the last line.
Fifth line, "koiwatarinamu": "must I go on longing?", closing on his unending thoughts of the hawk.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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