Waga seko ga koto toru nae ni tsunehito no iu nageki shi mo iya shiki masu mo

我が背子が琴取るなへに常人の
言ふ嘆きしもいやしき増すも

Roma-ji: Waga seko ga koto toru nae ni tsunehito no iu nageki shi mo iya shiki masu mo
English Translation: As you, my good friend,
take the koto up to play,
the grief, they say,
that ordinary people feel
grows and swells in me all the more.
Meaning: As you take up the koto and play, the sorrow that people speak of wells up in me ever more.
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4135

Headnote: none. The left note reads, "The poem above was composed by the governor, Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi, at a banquet at the residence of the junior clerk Hata no Imiki Iwatake."
The poet says that as his friend takes up the koto and plays, the sorrow that people speak of grows ever stronger in him. Composed at a banquet at the residence of the junior clerk Hata no Iwatake, it sings of being moved by the sound of the koto and how its music seeps into the heart.
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.
A banquet at Hata no Iwatake's residence also appears in 4086 with its lily garlands, showing that Iwatake often hosted gatherings.

First line, "waga seko ga": "seko" is an affectionate term for a man, apparently the host Iwatake playing the koto.
Second line, "koto toru nae ni": "nae ni" means "as" or "along with," "as you play the koto."
Third line, "tsunehito no": "ordinary people." It is the same word that opens Lady Sakanoue's 4080; where "tsunehito" there was the standard for measuring love, here it is used for the sorrow people speak of.
Fourth line, "iu nageki shi mo": "shi" and "mo" are emphatic, "the sorrow that people talk of," the brooding the koto awakens.
Last line, "iya shiki masu mo": "iya" means "ever more," "shiku" "repeatedly," and "mo" is exclamatory. It ends by singing of melancholy growing with the sound of the koto.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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