classic waka stream

意宇の海の潮干の潟の片思に
思ひや行かむ道の長手を
Roma-ji

Ō no umi no shiohi no kata no katamoi ni omoi ya yukamu michi no nagate o

English Translation
In the sea of Ō,
on the flats the tide lays bare,
one-sided longing,
shall I carry it along
all the length of this long road
Meaning
Like the flats laid bare by the ebbing tide in the sea of Ō, am I to go on with a one-sided love along this long, long road?
Commentary
Book Four Love Poems 536

Headnote: "A love poem by Prince Kadobe"
With the tidal flats of the sea of Ō in Izumo as its preface, this poem laments that the poet may have to go on along a long road with a one-sided love. According to the left note, when Prince Kadobe was governor of Izumo he took a local maiden as his wife but soon stopped visiting her; some months later his love revived, and he composed this poem and sent it to her.
The author, Prince Kadobe, was a Nara-period official of royal descent who served as governor of Izumo among other posts and was later granted the surname Ōhara no Mahito.

First line, "In the sea of Ō," names the sea of Ō District in Izumo, thought to be around today's Nakaumi lagoon.
Second line, "on the flats the tide lays bare," means the flats exposed at low tide; the sound kata of "flats" draws out katamoi, "one-sided love," and with the first line it forms a preface.
Third line, "one-sided longing," means in a love that is not returned, the same sound as the "flats" of the preface turning scenery into feeling.
Fourth line, "shall I carry it along," uses the questioning ya and conjectural mu: shall I go on longing? It closes in the attributive of mu, and the poem breaks after this line.
Fifth line, "all the length of this long road," names the long way; by inversion it sets last the distance he must travel with his longing.
Author
Prince Kadobe
Source
Manyoshu
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