Tonikaku ni mono wa omowazu Hida takumi utsu suminawa no tada hitosuji ni - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

とにかくに物は思はず飛騨工
打つ墨縄のただ一筋に

Roma-ji: Tonikaku ni mono wa omowazu Hida takumi utsu suminawa no tada hitosuji ni
English Translation: Not this way or that
will I let my thoughts waver;
like the inked cord that
the craftsmen of Hida snap,
straight and single is my love.
Meaning: I will not waver this way or that; like the inked cord the craftsmen of Hida snap upon the timber, I love you along a single straight line.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 990

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says: I will not waver this way and that; like the inked line that the craftsmen of Hida snap upon the timber, I love you with a single line. It likens a love without hesitation to the straight line struck by the inked cord.
Where the preceding poem, 989, sings of a wavering heart, "kokoro futatsu," this poem sings of a single-minded heart, "tada hitosuji ni," the two forming a contrast.
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.
A similar poem appears in Book Eleven of the Man'yōshū, with the second line "mono wa omowaji" and the final line "tada hitomichi ni."

First line, "tonikaku ni," means "this way and that."
Second line, "mono wa omowazu," means "I do not waver." The poem breaks here. It shares similar words with the final line of 954 in this book, "mono wa omowaji."
Third line, "Hida takumi," means "the craftsmen of Hida," who came from Hida Province to the capital to build palaces and other structures.
Fourth line, "utsu suminawa no," means "of the inked cord they snap upon the timber." The third and fourth lines form an introductory phrase that, from the straight line of the inked cord, leads to "hitosuji," a single line, in the final line.
Final line, "tada hitosuji ni," means "with one single line." It contrasts "futatsu," two, in the final line of the preceding poem, 989, "futatsu arikeri," with "hitosuji," one line.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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