Saburuko ga itsukishi tono ni suzu kakenu hayuma kudareri sato mo todoro ni

左夫流子が斎きし殿に鈴懸けぬ
駅馬下れり里もとどろに

Roma-ji: Saburuko ga itsukishi tono ni suzu kakenu hayuma kudareri sato mo todoro ni
English Translation: To the house where
Saburuko served him so,
with no bells hung on,
a post horse has come down here—
the whole village in uproar!
Meaning: To the house where Saburuko tended him so devotedly, a post horse with no bells has come down from the capital, and the whole village is in an uproar!
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4110

Headnote: "A poem composed when the first wife came of her own accord without waiting for a messenger sent by her husband."
The poet tells how a post horse without bells came down from the capital to the house where Saburuko had devotedly tended Okui, throwing the whole village into uproar. Depicting with humor the commotion when Okui's wife came to Etchū herself without waiting for her husband to send for her, it serves as a sequel to the preceding poems of admonition.
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, "Composed by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi on the seventeenth of the same month," two days after the poems of admonition.

First line, "Saburuko ga": taking up "Saburuko ni" in the envoy 4108, it sings of the same woman.
Second line, "itsukishi tono ni": "itsuku" means to wait upon devotedly, the house where Saburuko entertained Okui.
Third line, "suzu kakenu": official post horses carried a post bell, so a horse without one is a private mount; here it is the horse the wife rode.
Fourth line, "hayuma kudareri": "hayuma" is a post horse and "kudaru" means to come from the capital to the provinces. The poem pauses after the fourth line.
Last line, "sato mo todoro ni": "so that the whole village resounds," exaggerating the uproar of the wife's arrival. The villagers of "satobito no miru me hazukashi" in 4108 are here the witnesses to the commotion.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Kurenai wa utsurou mono zo tsurubami no narenishi kinu ni naoshi kame ya mo
Next Poem: Tachibana wa hana ni mo mi ni mo mitsuredomo iya tokijiku ni naoshi mi ga hoshi