Waga horishi nojima wa misetsu soko fukaki agone no ura no tama zo hiriwanu

我が欲りし野島は見せつ底深き
阿胡根の浦の玉ぞ拾はぬ

Roma-ji: Waga horishi nojima wa misetsu soko fukaki agone no ura no tama zo hiriwanu
English Translation: The isle of Nojima
that I longed for, I've been shown;
but in the deep bay,
the bay of Agone, still
the jewels I have not gathered.
Meaning: I have been shown Nojima, the island I longed to see—yet the jewels lying in the deep waters of Agone Bay I have still not gathered.
Commentary: Book One Miscellaneous Poems 12

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem by Nakatsu-sumeramikoto on her way to the hot springs of Ki"
A poem voicing both the satisfaction and the regret of a journey: the poet has seen the Nojima she longed to see, but has not yet gathered the lovely jewels of Agone Bay. Picking up beautiful stones was not only a keepsake of travel but was also thought to take in the spiritual power of the land. As the headnote shows, this belongs to the same journey to the Ki hot springs as the two preceding poems, and the three form a sequence. The text notes a variant opening, "The isle of Kojima that I longed for I have seen, but." The left note records that the Ruiju Karin calls it the Sovereign's own poem.
Nakatsu-sumeramikoto is a title whose bearer has never been settled. The leading view identifies her as Princess Hashihito, daughter of Emperor Jomei and consort of Emperor Kōtoku; another names Yamatohime, consort of Emperor Tenji. The title is understood to mean a noble woman who mediates between sovereign and gods, or an interim sovereign.

The first line, waga horishi, "that I longed for," joins horu with shi, the attributive of the past ki, showing a wish held since before the journey began.
The second line, "Nojima I've been shown," ends firmly with the perfective tsu, and the poem breaks here. Nojima is a place in Kii Province, thought to be on the coast of present-day Gobō, Wakayama. It carries gratitude toward a companion who showed it to her. In the variant, "Kojima I have seen, but," the line instead leads on concessively.
The third line, "deep at its bottom," hints at why the jewels are hard to obtain.
The fourth line names Agone Bay on the Kii coast. Its exact location is unknown, but it is thought to lie near Nojima.
The last line, tama zo hiriwanu, pairs the emphatic particle zo with nu, the attributive of the negative zu, in a kakari-musubi construction. Stressing that only the jewels remain ungathered, it sets regret against the satisfaction of the second line.
Author: Nakatsu-sumeramikoto
Source: Manyoshu
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