Kyō yori wa kaerimi nakute ōkimi no shiko no mitate to idetatsu ware wa

今日よりは返り見なくて大君の
醜の御楯と出で立つ我れは

Roma-ji: Kyō yori wa kaerimi nakute ōkimi no shiko no mitate to idetatsu ware wa
English Translation: From this day forward
never once shall I look back;
as our great lord's shield,
humble, rough, yet staunch and strong,
I go forth upon my way
Meaning: From this day on I will not look back; I set out as a humble but sturdy shield for my lord.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4373

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."
From today I will not look back; I set out as my lord's humble but sturdy shield: the poem states a guard's resolve with force. According to the left note, Taguchi no Ōto, escort officer of Shimotsuke Province, presented eighteen poems on the fourteenth day of the second month, and the clumsy ones were left out. This is the first. Where most guard poems lament parting from family, this one declares the resolve to cut off private feeling, and it is among the best known of the frontier guard poems.
The author, Imamatsuribe no Yosofu, is recorded as a squad leader from Shimotsuke; nothing more is known of him. A squad leader is thought to have led some ten soldiers.

The first line, "kyō yori wa," "from this day on," marks the day of departure as a turning point of the heart.
The second line, "kaerimi nakute," "without looking back," expresses the resolve to sever regrets for his family.
The third line, "ōkimi no," recurs throughout the guards' poems, naming the lord he serves.
The fourth line, "shiko no mitate to," uses shiko, "sturdy," a word also carrying self-deprecation, likening himself to a shield guarding the sovereign.
The closing line, "idetatsu ware wa," is inverted, placing "I" last to stress his resolve. The next poem also ends with "ware wa," and the two stand side by side.
Author: Imamatsuribe no Yosofu
Source: Manyoshu
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