Waga imoko ga shinui ni seyo to tsukeshi himo ito ni naru tomo wa wa tokaji to yo

我が妹子が偲ひにせよと付けし紐
糸になるとも我は解かじとよ

Roma-ji: Waga imoko ga shinui ni seyo to tsukeshi himo ito ni naru tomo wa wa tokaji to yo
English Translation: "Keep it to remember me,"
so my wife said, and she sewed
this sash on for me;
though it wear down to a thread
I will never untie it
Meaning: My wife sewed this sash on for me, telling me to keep it to remember her; even if it wears down to a single thread, I will never untie it.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4405

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."
The sash my wife sewed on for me to remember her by, I will never untie, even if it wears to a thread: the poem pledges faith to his wife. It is the second poem from Kōzuke. Where the preceding poem lamented the sash breaking, this one vows not to untie it even worn to a thread, so the two contrast feelings about the same sash. Shinui for shinoi is a dialect form.
The author, Asakura no Masuhito, was a guard from Kōzuke; nothing more is known of him.

The first line, "waga imoko ga," hypermetric, is an affectionate name for his wife.
The second line, "shinui ni seyo to," "keep it to remember me," quotes his wife's words.
The third line, "tsukeshi himo," "the sash she sewed on," takes up the preceding poem's "cord of the sash she tied." A pause falls here.
The fourth line, "ito ni naru tomo," "even if it wears to a thread," is a concessive supposition.
The closing line, "wa wa tokaji to yo," uses the negative volitional ji: I will never untie it.
Author: Asakura no Masuhito
Source: Manyoshu
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