Kushiro tsuku tōshi no saki ni kyō mo ka mo ōmiyabito no tamamo karu ramu

釧着く答志の崎に今日もかも
大宮人の玉藻刈るらむ

Roma-ji: Kushiro tsuku tōshi no saki ni kyō mo ka mo ōmiyabito no tamamo karu ramu
English Translation: At Tōshi's cape,
where bracelets clasp the wrist,
this day, too, perhaps,
the courtiers are gathering
the jeweled seaweed there.
Meaning: On the cape of Tōshi, are the courtiers once again, even today, gathering the lovely seaweed?
Commentary: Book One Miscellaneous Poems 41

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem composed by Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro, who remained in the capital when the Empress journeyed to Ise Province"
Left behind in the capital, Hitomaro wonders whether the royal party is again today amusing itself by gathering seaweed on the cape of Tōshi. Continuing from the preceding poem, it imagines the merry courtiers on their journey while quietly revealing the loneliness of one who stayed behind.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, and he is the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū. Though his rank appears to have been low, he left many grand and dignified poems, above all long poems, and later ages revered him as a "saint of poetry."

The first line, kushiro tsuku, "clasping a bracelet," is a pillow word for Tōshi, homophonous with tafushi, "wrist."
The second line names the cape of Tōshi Island at the mouth of Ise Bay, in present-day Toba, Mie Prefecture.
In the third line, kamo is a questioning particle: "today, too, perhaps?" It forms a kakari-musubi with the ramu of the last line, imagining pastimes repeated day after day.
The fourth line, "the courtiers," refers to those attending the royal journey. Poem 30 in this book also has "the courtiers," there the people of a lost capital, here people enjoying a journey—the same word set in contrasting scenes.
In the last line, ramu is present conjecture, closing in the attributive in answer to the kamo of the third line. In poem 23 of this book an exile's cutting of seaweed was pitied; here it is painted as the courtiers' gay pastime, the same phrase "cutting the jeweled seaweed" sung in a contrasting mood.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Ami no ura ni funanori su ramu otomera ga tamamo no suso ni shio mitsu ramu ka
Next Poem: Shiosai ni irago no shimabe kogu fune ni imo noru ramu ka araki shimami o