Tachikaeri mata mo mimaku no hoshiki kana Mimosusogawa no seze no shiranami - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

立ち返りまたも見まくのほしきかな
御裳濯川の瀬々の白波

Roma-ji: Tachikaeri mata mo mimaku no hoshiki kana Mimosusogawa no seze no shiranami
English Translation: Turning back again,
once more I long to see them,
how I wish I could—
all along the Mimosuso,
the white waves on every shoal.
Meaning: How I long to turn back and see them once more—the white waves breaking on every shoal of the Mimosuso River.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1881

Headnote: "Composed at the Ichishi post station when returning from Ise as a senior noble sent as imperial envoy."
This is the eleventh poem in the sequence concerning the Great Shrine of Ise. On the way back to the capital, the poet longs to turn back and see once more the white waves on the shoals of the Mimosuso River. According to the headnote, he composed it at the Ichishi post station when returning from Ise, where he had gone as a senior noble serving as imperial envoy. His reluctance to leave the sacred precinct is entrusted to the river's waves.
The author, "Chūin Nyūdō Udaijin," the lay-priest Minister of the Right of Chūin, is Minamoto no Masasada. A son of Minamoto no Masazane, he rose to Minister of the Right and later took holy orders.
A senior noble sent as imperial envoy was one of the highest court ranks dispatched on the sovereign's behalf to the Great Shrine of Ise. The Ichishi post station stood in Ichishi District of Ise Province, along the road between Ise and the capital.

The first line, "tachikaeri," means "turning back." It is associated with waves that break and return, echoing the "white waves" of the last line.
The second line, "mata mo mimaku no," means "to see once more"; "mimaku" is a nominal form of "mimu," "will see."
The third line, "hoshiki kana," means "how I wish it," ending with the exclamatory "kana," and the poem breaks here.
The fourth line, "Mimosusogawa no," is another name for the Isuzu River flowing through the Inner Shrine, the same river as in poem 1871 of this book.
The last line, "seze no shiranami," means "the white waves on every shoal," ending on a noun. The object of the wish in the first three lines is held to the end, an inversion. It resembles "Isuzugawa nami" in poem 1874 of this book, both telling of the waves of the sacred river.
Author: Minamoto no Masasada
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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