Mimaku hori omoishi nae ni kazurakage kaguwashi kimi o aimitsuru kamo

見まく欲り思ひしなへにかづらかけ
かぐはし君を相見つるかも

Roma-ji: Mimaku hori omoishi nae ni kazurakage kaguwashi kimi o aimitsuru kamo
English Translation: Just as I had thought,
"how I long to see you,"
wreathed in garlands,
you, the fragrant and lovely one,
I have met at last!
Meaning: Just when I was longing to see you, I have met you, so lovely and fragrant, with a garland in your hair.
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4120

Headnote: "Two poems expressing my feelings, composed in advance for the day when, going to the capital, I shall see noble persons and meet beautiful women at a banquet."
The poet says that just when he longed to see her, he has met the lovely one with a garland in her hair. Composed in advance, imagining a banquet where he would meet noble persons and beautiful women when he went up to the capital, it carries his longing for the capital and his hopes of reunion.
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.
According to the left note, it was composed on the twenty-eighth of the intercalary fifth month. Preparing poems for a banquet that has not yet taken place is, like the poems for the Yoshino excursion in 4098, a method of composition known as "prepared poems."

First line, "mimaku hori": "mimaku" means seeing, and "hori" wishing, the wish to meet.
Second line, "omoishi nae ni": "nae ni" means "just as," "at the very moment I was thinking."
Third line, "kazurakage": "wearing a garland," showing the attire of the banquet.
Fourth line, "kaguwashi kimi o": "kaguwashi" means fragrant or lovely, praising a beautiful person of the capital.
Last line, "aimitsuru kamo": "tsuru" is perfective and "kamo" exclamatory. It sings of meeting at the imagined banquet as though it had already happened.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Inishie yo shinoinikereba hototogisu naku koe kikite koishiki mono o
Next Poem: Chōsamu no kimi ga sugata o mizu hisa ni hina ni shi sumeba are koinikeri