Written on Water Page 14

496

  "There go frontier guards.

  Whose husbands could they be?"

  Someone nearby asks.

  How l envy her,

  Who can ask without concern!

  (4425)

  497

  My dear wife at home

  Would hove followed me

  As a horse which sallies forth,

  Breaking its tether,

  Not to be left behind.

  (4429)

  498

  On a frosty night

  When bamboo grass soughs and sighs,

  How much better than

  Seven wadded quilts

  Is the skin of my dear wife.

  (4431)

  499

  As I embarked into darkness,

  Clinging fast to me,

  My dear wife asked,

  "When will you return?"

  In my ears still rings her voice.

  (4436)

  This, the last poem that Ōtomo-no-Yakamochi added to the Man'yōshū, closes the anthology. When he was governor of Inaba Province, he celebrated the snowy New Year's Day of the year 759 with other officials and composed this poem.

  Ōtomo-no-Yakamochi

  500

  As snow falls

  Thick this New Year's Day,

  So may the grace of the gods

  Fall thick and fast

  And cover us generously.

  (4516)

  Footnotes

  The poet is supposed to have been a boy of twenty or less who had lived under his parents' loving care.

  Those who were ordered to serve as frontier guards had to leave home immediately.

  The Kashima Shrine is dedicated to a war god and is one of the largest shrines in Japan.

  In ancient times, a jewel was believed to have protective power and was carried on the person. This youth wished to have his mother's spiritual protection.