Naniwagata shiohi no nagori yoku mitemu ie naru imo ga machi towamu tame

難波潟潮干のなごりよく見てむ
家なる妹が待ち問はむため

Roma-ji: Naniwagata shiohi no nagori yoku mitemu ie naru imo ga machi towamu tame
English Translation: On Naniwa's flats
what the ebbing tide has left
I will mark it well,
for my wife who waits at home
will be waiting there to ask
Meaning: I will take a good look at what the ebbing tide has left on the flats of Naniwa, for my wife waiting at home will surely ask me about it.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 976

Headnote: "Two poems composed by Kamikoso no Imiki Oyumaro when crossing Mount Kusaka, in the fifth year, the year of mizunoto-tori"
The poem resolves to take a good look at the scene the ebbing tide has left on the flats of Naniwa, because the wife waiting at home will surely ask about it. According to the headnote, it was composed by Kamikoso no Oyumaro when he crossed Mount Kusaka in Tenpyō 5 (733). Mount Kusaka is a mountain in Kawachi on the western side of Mount Ikoma, and the direct road from Yamato over the hills to Naniwa passed this way.
As the sea of Naniwa opens out below when he crosses the mountain, he takes note of the rare sight in order to tell his wife about it when he gets home. The idea of turning a scene met on the road into a story for the waiting wife reveals a heart that thinks of her even while traveling.
The poet, Kamikoso no Oyumaro, was an official of the Nara period whose hereditary title was Imiki. Little is known of his career.

With the next poem, 977, this poem forms a pair of two poems on the sea of Naniwa as seen from Mount Kusaka. Where this poem seeks to tell the wife at home about the ebb-tide scene of "Naniwa's flats," the next turns its thoughts to the origin of the name of "the sea of Naniwa," so the same view is caught from two directions, an intimate feeling and the origin of an old name.
The first line, "On Naniwa's flats," refers to the shallow shore of the sea of Naniwa that becomes a tidal flat when the tide goes out.
The second line, "what the ebbing tide has left," refers to the pools and the traces left behind after the tide has withdrawn. "Nagori" means what remains after something has passed.
The third line, "I will mark it well," means "I will look at it closely," with "-temu" expressing strong will. The sense breaks here, after the third line.
The fourth line, "for my wife who waits at home," refers to the wife who is at home, "naru" expressing presence; he pictures her waiting far away in Yamato.
The final line, "will be waiting there to ask," means "because she will wait and ask me," stating afterward the reason for "I will mark it well" in the third line, in inverted order.
Author: Kamikoso no Oyumaro
Source: Manyoshu
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