Ashihiki no yama yukishikaba yamabito no ware ni eshimeshi yamazuto zo kore

あしひきの山行きしかば山人の
我れに得しめし山づとぞこれ

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yama yukishikaba yamabito no ware ni eshimeshi yamazuto zo kore
English Translation: Through the foot-wearying
mountains I went walking, and
a mountain dweller
gave it to me to keep: a
mountain keepsake, this one here
Meaning: When I went walking in the mountains, a mountain dweller let me have this: a keepsake from the mountains, here it is.
Commentary: Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4293

Headnote: "Poems composed on the imperial excursion to Yamamura, two poems. The former retired sovereign commanded the attending princes and courtiers, saying: 'You princes and lords, compose poems in reply and present them.' She then herself recited aloud:"
The poem shows an object in hand and says that a mountain dweller let her have it as a keepsake when she went into the mountains. According to the headnote, it was the opening verse recited by the retired sovereign herself when she asked her attendants for reply poems on an excursion to Yamamura. The word yamabito, "mountain dweller," also suggests a Taoist immortal, so the verse is a playful riddle against a background of immortal lore.
The left note says that in the fifth month of Tenpyō Shōhō 5 (753), while Ōtomo no Yakamochi, then Junior Counselor, was waiting at the residence of the Major Counselor Fujiwara (Nakamaro) on official business, the junior bell-keeper Yamada no Hijimaro recited this poem to him as words he had heard long ago. It thus stands at the head of Book Twenty as an old poem Yakamochi heard by report.
The author, the former retired sovereign, is Empress Genshō, daughter of Prince Kusakabe and Empress Genmei, who remained a weighty presence at court as retired sovereign after yielding the throne to Emperor Shōmu.

The first line, "ashihiki no," is a pillow word for "mountain." The opening poem of the book begins with a pillow word, and the next poem answers with the same first line.
The second line, "yama yukishikaba," uses shika, the perfective form of the past auxiliary ki, with ba to state a fact: "when I went into the mountains."
The third line, "yamabito no," means a dweller in the mountains but carries the sense of an immortal. The next poem picks up this word three times.
The fourth line, "ware ni eshimeshi," adds the causative shimu and the past ki to the verb u, "to get": "who let me have it."
The closing line, "yamazuto zo kore," stresses the keepsake with zo and then ends with "this," an inverted close that keeps the gesture of holding up the gift alive.
Author: Empress Genshō
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Uraura ni tereru haruhi ni hibari agari kokoro kanashi mo hitori shi omoeba
Next Poem: Ashihiki no yama ni yukikemu yamabito no kokoro mo shirazu yamabito ya tare