Akashigata shiohi no michi o asu yori wa shitaemashikemu ie chikazukeba

明石潟潮干の道を明日よりは
下笑ましけむ家近づけば

Roma-ji: Akashigata shiohi no michi o asu yori wa shitaemashikemu ie chikazukeba
English Translation: Along Akashi's
tideland path, as the tide ebbs,
from tomorrow on
I shall smile within my heart,
for my home will be drawing near
Meaning: From tomorrow, walking the path laid bare by the ebbing tide on the Akashi flats, I will be smiling inwardly, for home will be drawing closer.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 941

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three envoys"
This poem imagines that from tomorrow on, the poet will travel the path laid bare by the ebb tide on the Akashi flats, his heart full of the joy of nearing home. The long poem immediately before it (938) was composed by Yamabe no Akahito when he accompanied Emperor Shōmu on his progress to the plain of Inami in Harima in the ninth month of Jinki 3 (726). Coming last of the three envoys, this poem pictures the road back to the capital once the progress is over.
Taking up the lament of the preceding poem, 940, in which the lengthening nights of travel made home seem dear, this poem turns the same longing into bright anticipation on the eve of the return. Akashi lay on the road from Inami toward Yamato and was the first landmark on the way home.
The poet, Yamabe no Akahito, was a court poet of the early Nara period who accompanied Emperor Shōmu on his progresses and left many poems of praise. He excelled at poems that depict natural scenery with clarity and calm, and later generations revered him, alongside Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, as a sage of poetry.

The second and third of the three envoys both place "home" in their final lines: the preceding poem ends "my home comes to mind" and this one "my home will be drawing near." Together they form a pair that turns the same feeling around, from the grief of thinking of a distant home to the joy of approaching it.
The first line, "Along Akashi's," names the tidal flats spreading along the shore of Akashi in Harima, the coast of today's Akashi City in Hyōgo Prefecture.
The second line, "tideland path, as the tide ebbs," refers to the beach path revealed when the tide goes out, a picture of the homeward road along the sea. It is akin to "on the ebb-tide shore" in 958 of this book in its image of the tidal flats.
The third line, "from tomorrow on," looks ahead to the day when the progress will end and the journey home will begin.
The fourth line, "I shall smile within my heart," means that the poet will be glad inwardly. "Shita," "beneath," signifies the heart's hidden depths, conveying a secret smile that is not shown openly. The sense breaks here, making this a poem with a pause after the fourth line.
The final line, "for my home will be drawing near," gives the reason for the joy of the fourth line after the fact, in inverted order. By placing "home" in the final line, the poem sets up a vivid contrast with the lament of the preceding poem.
Author: Yamabe no Akahito
Source: Manyoshu
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