classic waka stream

もののふの八十宇治川の網代木に
いさよふ波のゆくへ知らずも
Roma-ji

Mononofu no yaso Ujikawa no ajirogi ni isayou nami no yukue shirazu mo

English Translation
Of the warrior clans,
the many, on the Uji River,
at the weir-stakes there,
the waves that linger and drift—
where they go, none can tell.
Meaning
On the Uji River the waves linger and eddy at the stakes of the fish weirs—and where they go from there, no one can know.
Commentary
Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 264

Headnote: "A poem composed by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro upon reaching the banks of the Uji River when coming up from the province of Ōmi"
Composed on the banks of the Uji River while returning to Yamato from the ruined Ōmi capital, the poem senses the fleetingness of human life in waves that eddy hesitantly against the weir stakes and then flow away to an unknown end. Famous as an early expression of the sense of impermanence, it made the weir stakes of the Uji River a classic image of later waka. Like the preceding poem, it was composed on the way up from Ōmi.
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 "Of the warrior clans": mononofu are the court officials; because their clans (uji) were numerous, the pillow word leads to "many clans" and so to the homophone Uji.
Second line "the many, on the Uji River" links "many clans" to the Uji River by sound.
Third line "at the weir-stakes there": ajirogi are stakes driven into the river to hold the fish weirs.
Fourth line "the waves that linger and drift": isayou means to hesitate and hover, picturing waves eddying against the stakes.
Fifth line "where they go, none can tell": mo is exclamatory, and the unknown course of the waves is overlaid with the uncertainty of human life.
Author
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source
Manyoshu
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