Yukikaeri tsune ni waga mishi kashiigata asu yu nochi ni wa mimu yoshi mo nashi

行き帰り常に我が見し香椎潟
明日ゆ後には見むよしもなし

Roma-ji: Yukikaeri tsune ni waga mishi kashiigata asu yu nochi ni wa mimu yoshi mo nashi
English Translation: Going and returning,
always it was mine to see,
Kashii's tidal flats—
from tomorrow and after
there is no way I shall see them
Meaning: The flats of Kashii that I have always seen as I came and went—after tomorrow there will be no way for me to see them.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 959

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems composed in the eleventh month of winter when the officials of the Dazaifu, having worshiped at the Kashii Mausoleum and while withdrawing homeward, halted their horses at the bay of Kashii and each expressed his feelings" "A poem by Uno no Obito Otohito, Governor of Buzen"
This poem regrets parting from the flats of Kashii, which the poet has always seen on his comings and goings but will have no way of seeing after tomorrow. It is one of three poems composed when, in the eleventh month of winter, the officials of the Dazaifu worshiped at the Kashii Mausoleum and, on their way back, halted their horses at the bay of Kashii, each expressing his feelings. The occasion is thought to have been the winter of Jinki 5 (728). The Kashii Mausoleum enshrined Emperor Chūai and Empress Jingū, and corresponds to today's Kashii Shrine in Higashi Ward, Fukuoka City.
Where the first two poems were cheerful invitations to gather on the flats, this one sings of the sorrow of parting, as the poet will no longer be able to see those same flats of Kashii. From the words "from tomorrow and after," it seems that he was about to leave the region, perhaps on completing his term as Governor of Buzen. He must often have seen the flats of Kashii while traveling between the provincial office of Buzen and the Dazaifu.
The poet, Uno no Otohito, was an official who served as governor of the province of Buzen.

In the three Kashii poems, this poem speaks of "the flats of Kashii," while the next two, 958 and 959, both place "Kashii's flats" in the third line, so that three officials sing in turn of the same tidal flats, each from his own position.
The first line, "Going and returning," means "both coming and going," calling to mind the journeys between Buzen and the Dazaifu.
The second line, "always it was mine to see," means "that I always saw," "shi" being the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki." It shows a scene long familiar to the poet.
The third line, "Kashii's tidal flats," stands in the third line as in the preceding poem, 958. The flats of Kashii, a place for gathering in the preceding poem, here become an object of farewell.
The fourth line, "from tomorrow and after," uses "yu," a particle marking a starting point. Set against "always" in the second line, it brings out the gap between what has been and what is to come.
The final line, "there is no way I shall see them," means "I will have no means of seeing them." "Mishi," "saw," in the second line and "mimu," "shall see," in the final line set past against future, deepening the feeling of parting.
Author: Uno no Otohito
Source: Manyoshu
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