Mishi hito no omokage tomeyo kiyomigata sode ni seki moru nami no kayoiji - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

見し人の面影とめよ清見潟
袖にせきもる波の通ひ路

Roma-ji: Mishi hito no omokage tomeyo kiyomigata sode ni seki moru nami no kayoiji
English Translation: The one I once knew,
hold that face here, Kiyomi Bay,
at the barrier
kept upon my sleeve, along
the pathway of the waves.
Meaning: Hold here the face of the one I once met, O Kiyomi Bay, along the path of waves that surge onto my sleeve like guards at a barrier, damming up my tears.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1333

Headnote: "For the Minase Contest of Fifteen Love Poems."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on love sung through tear-wet sleeves and winter imagery. Hold back the face of the one I once met, O Kiyomi Bay, the speaker says, on the path of waves that guard my sleeve like a barrier. According to the headnote, it was submitted to the Minase Contest of Fifteen Love Poems.
The author, "Masatsune," was a son of Fujiwara no Yoritsune and founded the Asukai house of kemari football and poetry. He was one of the compilers of the Shinkokinshū.
Kiyomi Bay is a poetic place in Suruga Province; the Kiyomi Barrier stood on its shore, and it was sung pairing the barrier with waves. Minase, in Settsu Province, was the site of Retired Emperor Go-Toba's detached palace. The Minase Contest of Fifteen Love Poems was held there, with poets composing on fifteen love topics and their poems matched in rounds.

The first line, "mishi hito no," means "of the one I once met." "Miru" refers to lovers meeting.
The second line, "omokage tomeyo," is an imperative, "hold back that face," and the poem breaks after it.
The third line, "kiyomigata," is an address. It names the bay of the Kiyomi Barrier, and through the link with the barrier calls on it to "hold back."
In the fourth line, "sode ni seki moru," "seki" is a pivot word meaning both the Kiyomi "barrier" and "damming" tears. It wishes that the waves of tears surging on the sleeve might hold the face back, like barrier guards.
The last line, "nami no kayoiji," ends on a noun. It uses the same word, "kayoiji," as "yume no kayoiji" in Masatsune's poem, 1315, but here it is the path by which the waves of tears come and go on the sleeve, set among the shore scenes that follow the tidal flats of the preceding poem.
Author: Fujiwara no Masatsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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