Shiranami no chie ni kiyosuru suminoe no kishi no hanyū ni nioite yukana

白波の千重に来寄する住吉の
岸の埴生ににほひて行かな

Roma-ji: Shiranami no chie ni kiyosuru suminoe no kishi no hanyū ni nioite yukana
English Translation: Where the white waves
come rolling in a thousandfold
at Suminoe,
in the clay along the shore
let me dye my robe and go
Meaning: At Suminoe, where the white waves come rolling in a thousand folds, let me tint my robe with the clay along the shore before I go.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 932

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "One envoy"
This poem expresses the wish to dye one's robe with the colored clay of the shore at Suminoe, where the white waves come rolling in, fold upon fold. By dyeing the robe with the earth of this lovely beach, the poet praises the land of Suminoe and seeks to carry away a keepsake of it.
The long poem immediately before (931) is titled "A poem composed by Kurumamochi no Asomi Chitose," and praises the purity of the beach at Suminoe, where a thousand waves roll in at morning calm and five hundred at evening calm. The headnote gives no date, but the poem is placed after the poems from the Naniwa progress of the tenth month of Jinki 2 (725). Suminoe lies around present-day Sumiyoshi Ward in Osaka, and was then a beach facing the sea.
The poet, Kurumamochi no Chitose, was a court poet of the early Nara period whose life is otherwise unknown. Chitose composed poems while accompanying imperial progresses in the same period as Kasa no Kanamura and Yamabe no Akahito.

Where the white waves of 908 near the head of the book, "the white waves that surge and churn," were those of the Yoshino River, the white waves here are those of the sea at Suminoe, showing that the progress poems have moved from scenes of mountain and river to scenes of the shore.
The first line, "Where the white waves," takes up the long poem's "the beach of Suminoe, around which the white waves bloom."
The second line, "come rolling in a thousandfold," means waves arriving layer upon layer. It takes up the long poem's "a thousand waves roll in" and modifies "Suminoe" that follows.
The third line, "at Suminoe," refers to Suminoe in the province of Settsu, the place name here being read "Suminoe."
The fourth line, "in the clay along the shore," means using the clay of the bank. "Hanyū" is ground of red or yellow clay, and robes were dyed with this earth.
The final line, "let me dye my robe and go," means "let me go, beautifully tinted." "Niou" means for a color to glow beautifully, and "na" is a final particle expressing the speaker's intention.
Author: Kurumamochi no Chitose
Source: Manyoshu
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