Wataru hi no kage ni kioite tazunetena kiyoki sono michi mata mo awamu tame

渡る日の影に競ひて尋ねてな
清きその道またもあはむため

Roma-ji: Wataru hi no kage ni kioite tazunetena kiyoki sono michi mata mo awamu tame
English Translation: Racing with the light
of the sun that crosses heaven
let me seek it out,
that pure and holy pathway,
so I may meet it once again
Meaning: Let me seek it in a race against the passing sunlight, that pure path, so that I may meet it again in lives to come.
Commentary: Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4469

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two poems composed while lying ill, grieving at impermanence and wishing to follow the Way."
Racing the passing sunlight, let me seek that pure path, so that I may meet it again: the poem states his resolve to seek the Way, mindful of how little time remains. The left note dates it to the seventeenth day of the sixth month, by Yakamochi. Laying the brevity of life over the sun's passing, it shows an urgent wish to seek the Way without delay.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Junior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs.

The first line, "wataru hi no," means "of the sun crossing the sky."
The second line, "kage ni kioite," "racing its light," shows a heart determined not to lose to the speed of time.
The third line, "tazunetena," with na of intention: let me seek it. It takes up the preceding poem's close, "let me seek the Way." The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "kiyoki sono michi," "that pure path," names by inversion what he seeks.
The closing line, "mata mo awamu tame," "so I may meet it again," ends with the wish to encounter the Buddhist Way in lives to come.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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