Unahara o tōku watarite toshi fu tomo kora ga musuberu himo toku na yume

海原を遠く渡りて年経とも
子らが結べる紐解くなゆめ

Roma-ji: Unahara o tōku watarite toshi fu tomo kora ga musuberu himo toku na yume
English Translation: Over the sea plain
though you cross far and the years
go by one by one,
the sash your beloved tied,
never, never loosen it
Meaning: Though you cross far over the sea and years go by, never untie the sash your beloved tied for you.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4334

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems of the frontier guards sent in rotation to the provinces of Tsukushi in the second month of Tenpyō Shōhō 7, year of the wood sheep."
Though you cross far over the sea and years pass, never untie the sash your beloved tied: the poem addresses the guards and urges fidelity to their wives. The left note says it is the first of three poems Ōtomo no Yakamochi composed on the ninth day of the second month. Keeping the sashes tied at parting until reunion was a token of a couple's vow, and he draws on this custom to encourage the guards.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Junior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs.

The first line, "unahara o," names the sea route from Naniwa to Tsukushi, showing how far the guards would go.
The second line, "tōku watarite," means "crossing far over the sea."
The third line, "toshi fu tomo," is a concessive supposition: "though years go by."
The fourth line, "kora ga musuberu," uses kora, an affectionate word for a woman, here the wife. It shares the sash custom Yakamochi sang of in his Tanabata poems.
The closing line, "himo toku na yume," uses the prohibitive na and yume, "never," and through inversion ends with a firm admonition.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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