Hito kogazu araku mo shirushi kazuki suru oshi to takabe to fune no ue ni sumu

人漕がずあらくもしるし潜きする
鴛鴦とたかべと船の上に棲む

Roma-ji: Hito kogazu araku mo shirushi kazuki suru oshi to takabe to fune no ue ni sumu
English Translation: No one rows them now—
how plain it is for all to see:
diving in the pond,
mandarin ducks and teal
make their home upon the boats.
Meaning: It is plain that no one rows here anymore: mandarin ducks and teal, diving for food, have made their home on the boats.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 258

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem with tanka by Kamo no Kimi Taruhito on Mount Kagu" — "Two envoys"
This is the first of the envoys attached to a long poem lamenting the decline of the pond at the foot of Mount Kagu. The boats in which courtiers once took their pleasure now go unrowed, and waterbirds have settled on them. The birds' peaceful presence only heightens the loneliness of a place deserted by people. A left note suggests the poem may have been written in nostalgia for the old capital after the move to Nara. Some take the palace at Kagu to be that of Prince Takechi.
The poet, Kamo no Taruhito, was an official bearing the clan title Kamo no Kimi, but nothing more is known of him.

First line "No one rows them now" means no one takes the boats out.
Second line "how plain it is": araku is the nominalized form of aru, and shirushi means evident. The sentence breaks here.
Third line "diving in the pond" describes the birds diving for food.
Fourth line "mandarin ducks and teal": oshi are mandarin ducks and takabe teal; the repeated to sets the two side by side.
Fifth line "make their home upon the boats" has one syllable too many. Birds dwelling where people should ride is a reversal that vividly shows the desolation.
Author: Kamo no Taruhito
Source: Manyoshu
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