Kehi no umi no niwa yoku arashi karikomo no midarete izu miyu ama no tsuribune

笥飯の海の庭よくあらし刈薦の
乱れて出づ見ゆ海人の釣船

Roma-ji: Kehi no umi no niwa yoku arashi karikomo no midarete izu miyu ama no tsuribune
English Translation: In the sea of Kehi
the fishing waters seem calm—
like reaped rushes strewn,
scattered, I see them setting out,
the fishermen's fishing boats.
Meaning: The waters of Kehi must be calm today—scattered like cut rushes, I see them putting out to sea, the fishermen's boats.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 256

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Eight travel poems by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro"
This is the eighth of the eight travel poems, closing the sequence. The sea of Kehi on the west coast of Awaji seems calm, and the fishermen's boats row out as they please in a bright, open scene. A sequence full of homesickness ends on a cheerful, spacious seascape. A left note gives another text's version: "The fishing waters of Muko's sea seem calm; the fishing boats of the fishermen are seen upon the waves."
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 "In the sea of Kehi": the sea off the west coast of Awaji, near Keno in present-day Minami-Awaji. The line has one syllable too many.
Second line "the fishing waters seem calm": niwa is the sea surface where fishing is done, and arashi is a contraction of aru rashi, "it seems to be." The sentence breaks here.
Third line "like reaped rushes strewn" is a pillow word for midaru, "to scatter," since cut rushes fall into disorder.
Fourth line "scattered, I see them setting out" describes the boats rowing out in all directions; it has one syllable too many.
Fifth line "the fishermen's fishing boats" ends on a noun in inversion, revealing at last what is being seen.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Amazakaru hina no nagachi yu koikureba Akashi no to yori Yamatoshima miyu
Next Poem: Hito kogazu araku mo shirushi kazuki suru oshi to takabe to fune no ue ni sumu