Kaerumi no michi yukamu hi wa itsuhata no saka ni sode fure ware o shi omowaba

可敝流廻の道行かむ日は五幡の
坂に袖振れ我れをし思はば

Roma-ji: Kaerumi no michi yukamu hi wa itsuhata no saka ni sode fure ware o shi omowaba
English Translation: On the day you take
the road by Kaeru's bends,
upon Itsuhata's
slope, wave your sleeves to me,
if you think of me at all.
Meaning: On the day you travel the road near Kaeru, wave your sleeves on the slope of Itsuhata, if you think of me.
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4055

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems from a banquet at the residence of the secretary Kume no Ason Hironawa, entertaining Tanabe no Fubito Sakimaro."
Bidding farewell to Sakimaro as he departs, the poet asks him to wave his sleeves on the slope of Itsuhata when he passes near Kaeru on his way back to the capital, if he thinks of him. Naming places along the road from Etchū to Echizen, he asks to be remembered after they part, closing the farewell banquet.
Ōtomo no Yakamochi was the son of Ōtomo no Tabito, and from 746 he served as governor of Etchū. He is believed to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū, and this book has the character of a poetic diary of his years in Etchū.
The left note reads, "The two poems above are by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi," followed by, "The preceding poems were composed on the twenty-sixth."

First line, "Kaerumi no": Kaeru is the area of Kahiru in Echizen (present-day Minami-Echizen, Fukui), and the name echoes "kaeru," "to return." The road home to the capital is entrusted to a place name.
Second line, "michi yukamu hi wa": "mu" is softening, "on the day you will travel that road."
Third line, "Itsuhata no": Itsuhata is a place in Echizen, in present-day Tsuruga, Fukui, where a slope overlooks Tsuruga Bay.
Fourth line, "saka ni sode fure": waving one's sleeves is a gesture of regret at parting and of love for the other. The imperative ends a pause after the fourth line.
Last line, "ware o shi omowaba": "shi" is an emphatic particle, and the irrealis plus "ba" makes a hypothetical condition. In inverted order, it closes by giving the reason for the request. The "returning" of Sakimaro's "mite kaeri komu" in the opening poem, 4032, is here sung as his road back to the capital, closing the sequence of welcoming and sending him off.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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