Sashite yuku kata wa minato no ura takami uramite kaeru ama no tsuribune - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

さしてゆくかたは湊の浦高み
うらみて帰る海人の釣舟

Roma-ji: Sashite yuku kata wa minato no ura takami uramite kaeru ama no tsuribune
English Translation: Toward the harbor
the way I steer, but the waves
in the bay run high;
looking at the bay, resentful,
back turns the fisher's boat
Meaning: The fisherman's boat heads for the harbor, but the waves in the bay run high, and it turns back, looking at the bay in resentment.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1435

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the third poem of the sequence on bays and waves and the closing poem of Book Fifteen. It sings of a fishing boat that heads for the harbor but, the waves in the bay running high, turns back resentfully looking at the bay, overlaying it with a love that returns without meeting. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Anonymous," indicates a poet whose name has not come down.

The first line, "sashite yuku," means "heading toward." It also echoes "sasu," poling a boat forward.
The second line, "kata wa minato no," means "the way it heads is to the harbor."
The third line, "ura takami," means "since the waves in the bay are high," "mi" expressing cause. The poem breaks after the third line.
In the fourth line, "uramite kaeru," "urami" is a pivot word joining "viewing the bay" and "resentment." It is the same pivot word as "uramite nomi mo," the fourth line of 1433: what there was a returning wave is here a returning fishing boat.
The last line, "ama no tsuribune," ends on a noun. The fishing boat that turns back without reaching the harbor it seeks is overlaid with a love that cannot reach the one it longs for. Whereas the opening poem began with the parting of sleeves at dawn, this closing poem ends with a fishing boat turning back in resentment, and Book Fifteen, devoted to the end of love, closes with the image of turning back without meeting.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Shiranami wa tachisawagu tomo korizuma no ura no mirume wa karan to zo omou