Onozukara ware o tazunuru hito mo araba nonaka no matsu yo miki to kataru na

おのづから我を尋ぬる人もあらば
野中の松よ見きと語るな

Roma-ji: Onozukara ware o tazunuru hito mo araba nonaka no matsu yo miki to kataru na
English Translation: If by any chance
someone should come asking
where I have gone,
O pine that stands on the moor,
do not say that you saw me.
Meaning: If by chance anyone should come looking for me, pine tree in the moor, do not tell them you saw me pass.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 690

Headnote: "On a folding-screen painting of three pines growing in a moor, with a woman in a veiling robe passing alone"
Seeing a screen painting of three pines in a moor and a veiled woman passing alone, the poet speaks as the woman: if anyone comes asking for her, she begs the pine not to say it saw her. Imagining the heart of a figure in the picture, he creates a story. Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a sign of praise.
The Ruijū text ends the headnote with slightly different wording.

Line 1 means "by chance."
Line 2 means "seeking me."
Line 3 means "if there be someone," six syllables.
Line 4 means "O pine in the moor," addressing the tree; it takes up the pines of the two preceding poems as the pine of the painting.
Line 5 means "do not say you saw," na prohibitive.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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