Iso no saki kogitami yukeba Ōmi no umi yaso no minato ni tazu sawa ni naku

磯の崎漕ぎ廻み行けば近江の海
八十の港に鶴さはに鳴く

Roma-ji: Iso no saki kogitami yukeba Ōmi no umi yaso no minato ni tazu sawa ni naku
English Translation: Round the rocky cape
as we row and turn our course,
on Ōmi's water,
at its eighty harbors there
cranes are crying everywhere.
Meaning: As we row around the rocky cape on the lake of Ōmi, cranes are crying in great numbers at harbor after harbor.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 273

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Eight travel poems by Takechi no Muraji Kurohito"
This is the fourth of Kurohito's eight travel poems. Rounding a cape of Lake Biwa by boat, he hears cranes crying ceaselessly at the harbors along the shore. The vast lake, its countless harbors, and the cranes' echoing cries are drawn as though enfolding the traveler's unease. At the end of the original text there is a note, "Unknown," which has been removed from the poem's text.
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 "Round the rocky cape": a rocky headland, which some take as a place name.
Second line "as we row and turn our course": tamu means to go around, so "as we row around the cape."
Third line "on Ōmi's water" is Lake Biwa; the line has one syllable too many.
Fourth line "at its eighty harbors": yaso means many, the harbors all along the shore.
Fifth line "cranes are crying everywhere": sawa ni means in great numbers. Following poem 271 in this book, it again sings the cries of cranes, echoing the waterside cranes within the sequence.
Author: Takechi no Kurohito
Source: Manyoshu
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