Ashihiki no yama ni yukikemu yamabito no kokoro mo shirazu yamabito ya tare

あしひきの山に行きけむ山人の
心も知らず山人や誰れ

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yama ni yukikemu yamabito no kokoro mo shirazu yamabito ya tare
English Translation: Into the foot-wearying
mountains, so it is said, went
a mountain dweller,
yet I cannot know his heart:
that mountain dweller, who is he?
Meaning: I cannot fathom the heart of the mountain dweller who is said to have gone into the mountains. That mountain dweller, who could it be?
Commentary: Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4294

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems composed on the imperial excursion to Yamamura," followed by "A poem presented by Prince Toneri in reply, in response to the command."
Answering the preceding poem's riddle with a riddle, it says that the heart of the mountain dweller who went into the mountains cannot be known, and asks who that dweller might be. Since the retired sovereign said she had received a keepsake from a mountain dweller, the prince hints that the one who went into the mountains is herself the dweller, a witty compliment likening her to an immortal.
The left note is the same as that of the preceding poem: it is an old poem Yamada no Hijimaro passed on to Yakamochi in the fifth month of Tenpyō Shōhō 5.
The author, Prince Toneri, was a son of Emperor Tenmu who presided over the compilation of the Nihon shoki and served as Controller of the Council of State. He was the father of Emperor Junnin.

The first line, "ashihiki no," a pillow word for "mountain," takes over the first line of the preceding poem as it is.
The second line, "yama ni yukikemu," uses kemu, conjecture about the past by hearsay: "who, they say, went into the mountains." It answers "yama yukishikaba" in the preceding poem while leaving vague who it was that went.
The third line, "yamabito no," takes up the preceding poem's "mountain dweller." The word yama appears four times in the poem, giving it the air of a word game.
The fourth line, "kokoro mo shirazu," brings a pause: the heart of that dweller is beyond guessing.
The closing line, "yamabito ya tare," ends on the interrogative particle ya, asking back who the dweller is. Leaving the answer to the listener makes it a fitting jest for a poem composed on command.
Author: Prince Toneri
Source: Manyoshu
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