Masashi chō yaso no chimata ni yūke tou ura masa ni seyo imo ni aubeku - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

正してふ八十のちまたに夕占問ふ
占正にせよ妹に逢ふべく

Roma-ji: Masashi chō yaso no chimata ni yūke tou ura masa ni seyo imo ni aubeku
English Translation: At the crossroads where
eighty paths divide, they say
the evening oracle
is true; O oracle, be true,
so that I may meet my love.
Meaning: At the crossroads where eighty roads divide, where the evening oracle is said to be true, I seek my fortune; O oracle, prove true, so that I may meet my beloved.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 806

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem prays, having consulted the evening oracle at a crossroads said to be reliable, that the oracle prove true so that one may meet the beloved. It sings of an earnest heart entrusting the course of love to the evening oracle, in which one stands at a crossroads at dusk and divines fortune from the words of passersby.
The author, "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, a court poet of the Asuka period revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. Many Man'yōshū poems are included in the Shūishū under Hitomaro's name.

First line, "masashi chō," means "said to be true," with "chō" a contraction of "to iu."
Second line, "yaso no chimata ni," means "at the crossroads where many roads part."
Third line, "yūke tou," means "consulting the evening oracle." It is the same line as the first line of the next poem, 807, so two poems on the evening oracle stand together.
Fourth line, "ura masa ni seyo," means "O oracle, prove true," expressing a wish in the imperative. Repeating "masa" from "masashi" in the first line, it strengthens the wish that the oracle come true.
Final line, "imo ni aubeku," means "so that I may meet my beloved," inverted to show the purpose of the wish in the fourth line.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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