Tsunehito no kou to iu yori wa amari nite ware wa shinu beku narinitarazu ya

常人の恋ふといふよりはあまりにて
我れは死ぬべくなりにたらずや

Roma-ji: Tsunehito no kou to iu yori wa amari nite ware wa shinu beku narinitarazu ya
English Translation: Far beyond the way
common people speak of love
and their longing,
I am close to dying now—
is it not so, my dear?
Meaning: Far beyond what ordinary people call longing, have I not come close to dying of it?
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4080

Headnote: "Two poems sent by his aunt and mother-in-law, Lady Sakanoue of the Ōtomo clan, to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi, governor of Etchū."
The poet says she has gone far beyond what ordinary people call longing and is close to dying of it. Lady Sakanoue in the capital borrows the pattern of a love poem to exaggerate how much she misses Yakamochi in Etchū, overflowing with the affection of a close relative.
Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue was the daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and a half-sister of Tabito. She was Yakamochi's aunt and, since her daughter Sakanoue no Ōiratsume became his wife, also his mother-in-law. She left many poems as a woman poet of the Man'yōshū.
This poem and the next were sent from the capital, and Yakamochi replied with the three poems beginning with 4082.

First line, "tsunehito no": "ordinary people," comparing her own longing with theirs.
Second line, "kou to iu yori wa": "more than the degree to which ordinary people say they long," a hypermetric line of eight syllables setting the standard of comparison.
Third line, "amari nite": "going beyond it," "to excess."
Fourth line, "ware wa shinu beku": "beku" expresses what is natural, "so that I seem about to die," voicing the pain of longing in extreme words.
Last line, "narinitarazu ya": "ni" is perfective, "tari" stative, and "zu ya" a negative question: "have I not become so?"—a strong appeal. Yakamochi's 4082 answers this "about to die" with "there is worth in living," so death and life form a pair.
Author: Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Source: Manyoshu
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