Utsusemi no inochi o oshimi nami ni nure irago no shima no tamamo kari osu

うつせみの命を惜しみ波に濡れ
伊良虞の島の玉藻刈り食す

Roma-ji: Utsusemi no inochi o oshimi nami ni nure irago no shima no tamamo kari osu
English Translation: Cherishing this life,
this fleeting life in the world,
drenched by the waves' spray,
on the island of Irago
I cut the jeweled weed to eat.
Meaning: Because I cling to this fleeting life, I am drenched by the waves as I cut the seaweed of Irago's island to eat.
Commentary: Book One Miscellaneous Poems 24

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem by Prince Omi, who, hearing this, was moved to grief and replied"
Answering the contemporary who pitied him, Prince Omi replies that it is precisely because he treasures his life that he is drenched by the waves cutting seaweed, and eats it to survive. It frankly expresses an exile's desperate will to live even at the cost of pride, and the sorrow of his lot. The way he answers the other's "he is cutting" with his own "I cut to eat" is striking. As with the preceding poem, the left note records that the Nihon Shoki names Inaba as his place of exile.
Prince Omi was a member of the imperial family of the third rank in the reign of Emperor Tenmu. The Nihon Shoki relates that in 675, the fourth year of that reign, he was exiled for a crime, and that one son was banished to an island off Izu and another to the island of Chika. His lineage is unclear.

The first line, utsusemi no, "of this world," is a pillow word for words such as "life," "world," and "people," calling to mind the fragility of life in this world.
The second line, inochi o oshimi, uses the "o ... mi" pattern to give a reason: "because I value my life." It frankly voices the wish to live even as an exile.
The third line, "drenched by the waves," continues on in a continuative form, concretely depicting a hard life on the shore.
The fourth line repeats the fourth line of the preceding poem exactly, making it clear that this is a reply to the contemporary's poem.
In the last line, osu is an honorific for "to eat," but here it seems to be used of his own act, echoing the honorifics of the preceding poem. Against "he is cutting the seaweed," he shows a harsher reality: not only cutting it, but living by eating it.
Author: Prince Omi
Source: Manyoshu
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