Inabino mo yukisugikate ni omoereba kokoro kōshiki Kako no shima miyu

稲日野も行き過ぎかてに思へれば
心恋しき加古の島見ゆ

Roma-ji: Inabino mo yukisugikate ni omoereba kokoro kōshiki Kako no shima miyu
English Translation: Even Inabi's plain,
I could not bear to pass by—
and as I felt so,
the isle that stirs my heart,
Kako's island comes in sight.
Meaning: Even the plain of Inabi I could hardly bear to pass by—and as I lingered so, the beloved island of Kako came into view.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 253

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Eight travel poems by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro"
This is the fifth of the eight travel poems. Reluctant to pass by the plain of Inabi in Harima, the traveler sees the island of Kako, dearer still, come into view—praise of the land layered upon praise. Regret at moving on and delight in the landscape become one. At the end of the original text there is a note of variant, "One version says: the harbor mouth comes in sight"; here the main text, "Kako's island comes in sight," is followed.
The eight travel poems form a sequence tracing, place by place, a sea voyage west from Naniwa through the Inland Sea and back toward Yamato. The first of them, poem 249, has a lower half whose reading is unresolved.
The poet, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was a court poet active from the reign of Jitō to that of Monmu. Master of both long and short poems, he was later revered as the "Saint of Poetry." His rank was low, and much of his life remains obscure.

First line "Even Inabi's plain": Inabino is the Inami plain of Harima, a plateau from present-day Kakogawa to Akashi; mo means "the plain too."
Second line "I could not bear to pass by": kate ni means "unable to," expressing the difficulty of moving on.
Third line "and as I felt so": omoereba combines the verb with the continuative ri and ba—"while I was thinking so."
Fourth line "the isle that stirs my heart": kōshiki means dear and longed for, modifying the island that follows.
Fifth line "Kako's island comes in sight": the island is thought to have lain near the mouth of the Kako River. The variant reads "the harbor mouth comes in sight."
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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