Matsuragawa kawa no se hikari ayu tsuru to tataseru imo ga mo no suso nurenu

松浦川川の瀬光り鮎釣ると
立たせる妹が裳の裾濡れぬ

Roma-ji: Matsuragawa kawa no se hikari ayu tsuru to tataseru imo ga mo no suso nurenu
English Translation: The Matsura River,
its shallows glittering bright,
and there fishing trout
stands my darling, and the hem
of her skirt is wet with spray
Meaning: The shallows of the Matsura River glitter, and the hem of the skirt of my darling, who stands there fishing for sweetfish, is wet.
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 855

Headnote: "Three more poems sent by the wandering guest"
The poet describes the hem of the girl's skirt wet as she stands fishing for sweetfish in the glittering shallows of the Matsura River. Vividly painting the sparkling stream and the girl, he conveys his longing for a maiden like an immortal.
"Wandering guest" in the headnote means a traveler drifting like mugwort, the author's humble name for himself as narrator of the preface.
This belongs to the sequence that begins with "Preface on an Excursion to the Matsura River." The preface tells how the author, wandering by the pools of Tamashima in Matsura, met some girls fishing whose beauty was like that of immortal maidens; they answered that they were fishermen's children with neither village nor home, yet asked to be joined with him until old age. It is a fictional tale that borrows the conceits of the Chinese romance of the immortals, You xian ku. It is most commonly attributed to Ōtomo no Tabito, though some ascribe it to Yamanoue no Okura.
The poet, Ōtomo no Tabito, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Yasumaro and the father of Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Late in the Jinki era he went down to Tsukushi as Governor-General of Dazaifu, returned to the capital in Tenpyō 2 as Major Counselor, and died the following year. Versed in Chinese letters and Daoist thought, he formed a literary circle at Dazaifu with Yamanoue no Okura and others, known as the Tsukushi poetic circle.

First line, "Matsuragawa": the river of Matsura, including the Tamashima, setting the scene of the tale.
Second line, "kawa no se hikari": the shallows gleaming in the sun, a bright scene.
Third line, "ayu tsuru to": "fishing for sweetfish," recalling the girls fishing in the preface.
Fourth line, "tataseru imo ga": "se" is the honorific "su," speaking of the girl with respect.
Fifth line, "mo no suso nurenu": the hem of her skirt wet with river water, closing on her allure. The later reply 861 takes up this line as "her crimson skirt's hem wet."
Author: Ōtomo no Tabito (attributed)
Source: Manyoshu
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