Makoto nite na ni kiku tokoro hane naraba tobu ga gotoku ni miyako e mogana - Tosa Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

まことにて名に聞く所はねならば
飛ぶがごとくにみやこへもがな

Roma-ji: Makoto nite na ni kiku tokoro hane naraba tobu ga gotoku ni miyako e mogana
English Translation: If truly this place
known by name as 'Wing' is one,
then like one in flight
I would hasten through the sky
home to the capital now
Meaning: If this place we hear called "Wing" truly were a wing, how I would love to fly home to the capital like a bird.
Commentary: 20 The Eleventh Day of the First Month: The Place Called Hane

At dawn on the eleventh day of the first month, the party set out for Murotsu. Everyone was still asleep and the state of the sea could not be seen; they could tell east from west only by the moon. Before long the night gave way to day, and while they washed their hands and went through their usual morning observances, noon came and they reached a place called Hane. Hearing the name, a little child asked, "Is the place called Hane like a bird's wing?" and everyone laughed.
Hane corresponds to present-day Hane-chō in Muroto City, Kōchi Prefecture. The young girl who composes a poem in this scene was a girl attending the party. The daughter who had died was the former governor's child, and she had been with them when they came down from the capital to Tosa.
Prompted by the child's words, a young girl who was there composed this poem on the place name Hane.
Men and women alike longed to return to the capital as soon as possible, so although the poem was not especially fine, people felt how true it was and did not forget it. The child's question about Hane also brought the lost daughter back to mind, deepening her mother's grief, and the poem "Yo no naka ni omoiyaredomo ko o kouru omoi ni masaru omoi naki kana" was composed.

The first line, "Makoto nite," means "truly." The second line, "na ni kiku tokoro," means "this place I hear named." The third line, "hane naraba," means "if it were a wing," playing on both the place name Hane and a bird's wing.
The fourth line, "tobu ga gotoku ni," follows from the wing: "as a bird flies." In the final line, "miyako e mogana," "mogana" is a particle of wishing: how I wish to go home to the capital.
Taking up the little child's innocent question, the poem moves by association from the place name to wings and flight, voicing the wish of the whole party to return to the capital without a moment's delay.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Tosa Nikki
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