Okitsunami kiyoru ariso o shikitae no makura to makite naseru kimi kamo

沖つ波来寄る荒礒を敷栲の
枕とまきて寝せる君かも

Roma-ji: Okitsunami kiyoru ariso o shikitae no makura to makite naseru kimi kamo
English Translation: On the rugged shore
where the offshore waves come in,
as if on fine cloth,
you have made a pillow there—
you who lie asleep, my lord.
Meaning: On the rugged shore where the waves roll in from the open sea, you have made your pillow, and there you lie sleeping.
Commentary: Book Two Elegies 222

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems composed by Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro on seeing a dead man among the rocks on the island of Samine in Sanuki, two short poems"
Addressing the dead man who lies with his head on the rocky shore where the waves roll in, he speaks to him with respect: here you are, lying asleep.
These are elegies Kakinomoto no Hitomaro composed on seeing a traveler who had died lying among the rocks on the island of Samine in Sanuki, two short poems appended to the long poem 220. Samine is taken to be Shamijima in present-day Sakaide, Kagawa Prefecture. In the long poem, having put in at the island to escape the wind on a sea journey, he sees the dead man pillowed on the rocky shore and thinks of his family. 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, "okitsunami," tsu is a case particle meaning "of": the waves of the open sea.
The second line, "kiyoru ariso o," means "the rocky shore where they come in."
The third line, "shikitae no," is a pillow word for makura, "pillow." Poem 195 in this book begins with the same pillow word.
In the fourth line, "makura to makite," maku means to use as a pillow. Like "iwane shi makite" in 86 by Empress Iwa no Hime and "iwane shi makeru" in the next poem, 223, it depicts death as lying pillowed on rock.
In the final line, "naseru kimi kamo," nasu is an honorific for sleeping, ru is stative, and kamo exclamatory: showing respect to a nameless dead man, it closes, "you who lie asleep."
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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