Haniyasu no ike no tsutsumi no komorinu no yukue o shirani toneri wa madou

埴安の池の堤の隠り沼の
ゆくへを知らに舎人は惑ふ

Roma-ji: Haniyasu no ike no tsutsumi no komorinu no yukue o shirani toneri wa madou
English Translation: Like the hidden marsh
walled in by the banks around
the Haniyasu pond,
not knowing where to go,
the attendants wander lost.
Meaning: Like the enclosed marsh within the banks of the Haniyasu pond, with no outlet, the attendants wander lost, not knowing where to turn.
Commentary: Book Two Elegies 201

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems composed by Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro at the time of the temporary enshrinement of Prince Takechi at Kinoe, two short poems"
Like a marsh enclosed by banks with nowhere for its water to go, the attendants who have lost their master are at a loss, not knowing where to turn.
These are elegies Kakinomoto no Hitomaro composed when the body of Prince Takechi lay in state at the temporary shrine at Kinoe. The long poem 199 depicts the prince's exploits in the Jinshin War and is known as the longest poem in the Man'yōshū. Prince Takechi was Emperor Tenmu's eldest son, became Chancellor of the Realm under Empress Jitō, and died in the tenth year of her reign (696). This is the second of those two short poems.
The author, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. A master of the long poem and the elegy, he is the representative poet of the Man'yōshū and was later revered as the Saint of Poetry.

In the first line, "haniyasu no," Haniyasu is the land at the foot of Mount Kagu where Prince Takechi's palace is said to have stood.
The second line, "ike no tsutsumi no," means "of the banks of the Haniyasu pond."
The preface runs through the third line, "komorinu no," leading from a marsh enclosed by banks with no outlet to "not knowing where to go."
In the fourth line, "yukue o shirani," ni is an old continuative form of the negative zu: not knowing where to go.
The final line, "toneri wa madou," means "the attendants are at a loss." Like the poems of Prince Kusakabe's attendants from 171 on in this book, it shows the grief of attendants who have lost their master.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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