Suminoe no Enatsu ni tachite miwataseba Muko no tomari yu izuru funabito

住吉の得名津に立ちて見わたせば
武庫の泊りゆ出づる船人

Roma-ji: Suminoe no Enatsu ni tachite miwataseba Muko no tomari yu izuru funabito
English Translation: At Suminoe,
standing at Enatsu's shore,
as I look afar—
from the harbor of Muko
the boatmen setting out to sea.
Meaning: Standing at Enatsu in Suminoe and gazing out, I see boatmen setting out from the harbor of Muko.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 283

Headnote: "A poem by Takechi no Muraji Kurohito"
Standing on the shore at Enatsu in Suminoe, the poet watches people setting sail far across the water from the harbor of Muko. Within a broad composition embracing Osaka Bay, he catches the small figures of departing boatmen. His attention to receding things reveals Kurohito's characteristic sense of travel.
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 "At Suminoe": Suminoe lay in Settsu, around present-day Sumiyoshi Ward, Osaka.
Second line "standing at Enatsu's shore": Enatsu is thought to have been a port in Suminoe.
Third line "as I look afar" sets the viewpoint surveying the wide bay.
Fourth line "from the harbor of Muko": a harbor near the mouth of the Muko River, with yu marking the point of departure.
Fifth line "the boatmen setting out to sea" ends on a noun, making the departing figures the focus of the scene.
Author: Takechi no Kurohito
Source: Manyoshu
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