Oikaze ni yae no shioji o yuku fune no honoka ni dani mo aimiteshigana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

追ひ風に八重の潮路を行く舟の
ほのかにだにも逢ひ見てしがな

Roma-ji: Oikaze ni yae no shioji o yuku fune no honoka ni dani mo aimiteshigana
English Translation: With the following wind,
over eightfold ocean lanes
the boat sails away:
faintly, even just so much,
O that I might meet you once
Meaning: Like a boat sailing with a following wind over the endless sea lanes, glimpsed faintly as it recedes, I long to meet you, if only for a fleeting moment.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1072

Headnote: "When the courtiers of the Hall composed on the topic 'Love Associated with Wind' in the reign of Retired Emperor Toba."
This is the second poem of the sequence on love with no known course, sung through boats. As a boat running before the wind over far sea lanes is glimpsed faintly and gone, the speaker wishes to meet, if only faintly. According to the headnote, it was composed when the courtiers wrote on the topic "Love Associated with Wind" in the time of Retired Emperor Toba.
The author, "Provisional Middle Counselor Morotoki," is Minamoto no Morotoki. A son of Minamoto no Toshifusa, Minister of the Left, he rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. He left the diary Chōshūki.
"Ue no onoko" were male officials permitted to ascend to the Courtiers' Hall of the Seiryōden, that is, the courtiers of the Hall.

The first line, "oikaze ni," means "with the wind behind," expressing the "wind" of the topic.
The second line, "yae no shioji o," means "over the sea lanes stretching far, fold upon fold."
The third line, "yuku fune no," means "of a boat seen faintly as it recedes," and the first three lines form a preface leading to "honoka ni."
The fourth line, "honoka ni dani mo," means "if only faintly," the same form as "hatsuka ni dani mo" in 1018.
The last line, "aimiteshigana," is the same last line as in 1051, and 1075 closes with it as well. Against the drifting boat that has lost its oar in the preceding poem, this one sings of a boat speeding before the wind, so a boat whose course is unknown and a boat drawing away stand together.
Author: Minamoto no Morotoki
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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