Tabi ni shite mono kōshiki ni yamashita no ake no sohobune oki o kogu miyu

旅にしてもの恋しきに山下の
赤のそほ船沖を漕ぐ見ゆ

Roma-ji: Tabi ni shite mono kōshiki ni yamashita no ake no sohobune oki o kogu miyu
English Translation: While on my travels,
feeling vaguely homesick now,
beneath the mountain
the ship painted vermilion
rows out—I see it far off.
Meaning: On my journey, filled with a vague longing, I see the vermilion ship from beneath the mountain rowing out to sea.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 270

Headnote: "Eight travel poems by Takechi no Muraji Kurohito"
This is the first of Kurohito's eight travel poems. Longing for home on his journey, he glimpses a vermilion official ship rowing out to sea, and his travel sorrow deepens. His gaze on the receding vessel is steeped in the solitude characteristic of Kurohito.
Kurohito's eight travel poems gather pieces composed on journeys through Settsu, Owari, Ōmi, Mikawa, Yamashiro, and other provinces.
The poet, Takechi no Kurohito, was active from the reign of Jitō to that of Monmu. Excelling in travel poems, he opened a distinctive vein of landscape poetry marked by a solitary gaze upon receding things. Little is known of his life.

First line "While on my travels" means being away on a journey.
Second line "feeling vaguely homesick": mono adds a sense of "somehow," and ni gives "while I felt so."
Third line "beneath the mountain" is taken either as a pillow word for "red" or literally as the foot of the mountain.
Fourth line "the ship painted vermilion": soho is red earth; a red-painted ship is thought to be an official vessel.
Fifth line "rows out—I see it far off" ends with the ship moving away, deepening the traveler's forlorn mood.
Author: Takechi no Kurohito
Source: Manyoshu
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