Yukimeguri mitomo akame ya nakisumi no funase no hama ni shikiru shiranami

行き廻り見とも飽かめや名寸隅の
舟瀬の浜にしきる白波

Roma-ji: Yukimeguri mitomo akame ya nakisumi no funase no hama ni shikiru shiranami
English Translation: Wandering all around,
could one ever tire of it?
At Nakisumi,
on the beach of the harbour,
the white waves breaking on and on
Meaning: However I wander about and gaze, how could I ever tire of them—the white waves breaking on and on along the beach of the harbour at Nakisumi.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 937

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Two envoys"
This poem praises the white waves breaking one after another on the beach of the harbour at Nakisumi, declaring that however one wanders about gazing at them, one could never tire of the sight. Where the preceding poem voiced longing for Awaji across the sea, this poem praises the scene of the Nakisumi beach before the poet's eyes and so celebrates the site of the progress.
The long poem immediately before (935) is titled "A poem composed by Kasa no Asomi Kanamura when the Emperor made a progress to Inamino in the province of Harima on the fifteenth day of the ninth month of autumn in the third year," and was written while accompanying Emperor Shōmu on his progress to Inamino in Harima in the ninth month of Jinki 3 (726). The long poem tells of hearing that at Matsuho Bay on Awaji Island, seen across from the harbour of Nakisumi, there are fisher girls who gather jewel-weed and burn seaweed for salt, and laments with longing that, having no boat or oars, the poet has no means of going to see them.
Inamino is the upland stretching from present-day Kakogawa City to Akashi City in Hyōgo Prefecture. Nakisumi is thought to lie around present-day Uozumi-chō in Akashi, and the funase was the harbour there.
The poet, Kasa no Kanamura, was a court poet of the early Nara period who accompanied the sovereigns from Empress Genshō to Emperor Shōmu on their progresses and left many poems of praise. Together with Yamabe no Akahito, he is regarded as a representative poet of the age.

The phrase "could one ever tire" in this poem is the same as the second line of 921 in this book, so the rhetorical praise once given to the palace ground at Yoshino is here bestowed on the white waves of the Nakisumi beach on the Inamino progress. The "white waves" of the final line also echo "the white waves that surge and churn" of 908 and "where the white waves come rolling in a thousandfold" of 932, white waves being sung again and again as a scene that praises the sites of the progresses.
The first line, "Wandering all around," means going about here and there, showing the poet strolling along the beach as he gazes.
The second line, "could one ever tire of it," is a rhetorical question meaning "even if one kept looking, would one tire? Never." "Tomo" is a concessive conditional and "ya" marks the rhetorical question; the sense breaks here, after the second line.
The third line, "at Nakisumi," is a place name in the province of Harima, taking up "the harbour of Nakisumi" in the long poem.
The fourth line, "on the beach of the harbour," means on the shore by the landing place, showing where the white waves break.
The final line, "the white waves breaking on and on," means white waves rolling in one upon another, and closing on a noun it impresses the scene before the eyes. Through inversion, the object of "could one ever tire of it" in the second line is revealed only in the last line.
Author: Kasa no Kanamura
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Tamamo karu amaotomedomo mi ni yukamu funakaji mo gamo nami takaku tomo
Next Poem: Okitsunami henami shizukemi isari suto fujie no ura ni fune zo sawakeru