Kimi o matsu matsura no ura no otomera wa tokoyo no kuni no ama otome kamo

君を待つ松浦の浦の娘子らは
常世の国の海人娘子かも

Roma-ji: Kimi o matsu matsura no ura no otomera wa tokoyo no kuni no ama otome kamo
English Translation: Waiting there for you,
on the bay of Matsura,
those maidens, I wonder,
are they from the Everworld,
fisher-maidens of that land?
Meaning: Those maidens on the bay of Matsura who wait for you: could they be fisher-girls from the Everlasting Land?
Commentary: Book Five Miscellaneous Poems 865

Headnote: "A poem in response to the poems of the immortal maidens of Matsura"
The poet wonders whether the maidens waiting for his friend on the bay of Matsura are fisher-girls from the Everlasting Land. Responding to the Matsura River poems Tabito sent him, he praises the girls as maidens of the realm of immortality.
The letter in the headnote tells how Kichita no Yoroshi received Ōtomo no Tabito's letter dated the sixth day of the fourth month, opened it, read it, and felt his heart lighten. He consoles Tabito, who, a traveler in a frontier land, longs for the past and weeps at the passing years, and prays for his long life. He adds that he read with admiration the poems of the plum blossom banquet and the exchange with the immortal maidens of Tamashima in Matsura that Tabito had shown him, and, lamenting the distance of blue sea dividing the land and white clouds dividing the sky, sends his reply by the officer escorting the wrestlers.
The poet, Kichita no Yoroshi, is said to have descended from immigrants from Paekche. He was originally a monk named Eshun, but returned to lay life by imperial order and was granted the name Kichita no Muraji. Skilled in medicine, he later served as Head of the Bureau of Books and Drawings, among other posts.

First line, "kimi o matsu": leads into the "matsu" of Matsura, playing on "waiting for you" and the place name.
Second line, "Matsura no ura no": the bay of Matsura, setting of the tale.
Third line, "otomera wa": the maidens who exchanged poems with Tabito in the tale.
Fourth line, "tokoyo no kuni no": the "Everlasting Land," an ideal realm of eternal life believed to lie beyond the sea, here overlaid with Chinese ideas of the immortals' paradise.
Fifth line, "ama otome kamo": "kamo" is an exclamation with a question: could they be fisher-maidens like immortals?
Author: Kichita no Yoroshi
Source: Manyoshu
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