Amatobu ya kari no tsukai ni itsushika mo nara no miyako ni kototsute yaran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

天飛ぶや雁の使ひにいつしかも
奈良の都に言伝てやらん

Roma-ji: Amatobu ya kari no tsukai ni itsushika mo nara no miyako ni kototsute yaran
English Translation: Through the soaring sky
the wild goose as messenger—
how soon, I wonder,
to the capital of Nara
can I send my word by it?
Meaning: Using the wild goose that flies through the sky as my messenger, how I wish to send word soon to the capital at Nara.
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 353

Headnote: "In China"
The poet wishes to send word soon to the capital at Nara by the wild goose flying through the sky as messenger. He entrusts his longing for the home capital from a distant foreign land to the old story of the goose messenger. According to the headnote, it was composed in China. The goose as messenger comes from the story of Su Wu of Han who, held captive by the Xiongnu, tied a letter to a wild goose's leg to send word home. Placed at the close of the book of parting poems, it ends the book with a poem sending thoughts from the road to the capital. Whereas 301 at the head of the book was the poem of one staying in the capital and seeing off a traveler, the close is the poem of a traveler far from the capital, so the head and close answer each other as the one who sees off and the one who journeys.
The author, written as Kakinomoto no Hitomaro in kana, is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet of the Asuka period, he is revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
There is no reliable record that Hitomaro crossed to China, and a similar poem is found among the poems of the envoys to Silla in Book Fifteen of the Man'yōshū.

First line, "amatobu ya," is a pillow word for the wild goose.
Second line, "kari no tsukai ni," means "by the wild goose as messenger." Geese are also sung of in 304 and 345 of this book, and at the close of the book they are bound up as messengers carrying word.
Third line, "itsushika mo," means "soon, when at last," expressing eager waiting.
Fourth line, "nara no miyako ni," means "to the capital at Nara."
Final line, "kototsute yaran," means "I would send word," with "n" an auxiliary of intention. Like "tsugeyaran" in 339 of this book, it sings of the wish to send word from the road to the capital.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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