Iwabashiri tagichi nagaruru hatsusegawa tayuru koto naku mata mo kite mimu

石走りたぎち流るる泊瀬川
絶ゆることなくまたも来て見む

Roma-ji: Iwabashiri tagichi nagaruru hatsusegawa tayuru koto naku mata mo kite mimu
English Translation: Racing over rocks,
surging, churning as it flows,
the Hatsuse River—
like it, never ceasing,
I shall come to see again
Meaning: Racing over the rocks and churning as it flows, the Hatsuse River never ceases; so too, without ceasing, I will come again and again to see it.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 991

Headnote: "A poem composed by the same Kahito on reaching the banks of the Hatsuse River"
Standing before the Hatsuse River as it leaps over the rocks and rushes along, the poet vows to return again and again, as unceasing as the current. By overlapping the endless flow of the river with his own repeated visits, he praises the land.
The Hatsuse River flows through the valley of Hatsuse in the province of Yamato (present-day Hase in Sakurai, Nara Prefecture), passing the foot of Mount Miwa before joining the Yamato River. "The same Kahito" in the headnote shows that the author is the same as that of the preceding poem, 990, and the poem was probably composed on a journey around Sakurai from Tomi to Hatsuse. The phrase "never ceasing, I shall come to see again" follows a pattern found in poems praising imperial progresses to places like Yoshino, where the endless flow of a river is paired with the endless return of the visitor.
The poet, Ki no Kahito, was an official of the Nara period belonging to the Ki no Asomi clan. He was granted the Outer Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade, in Tenpyō 9 (737), and served as head of the Palace Maintenance Office and later of the Palace Kitchen Office. The Man'yō poet Lady Ki (Ki no Oshika) is said to have been his daughter.

Where the preceding poem, 990, praised the age of a pine that had lived a thousand ages, this poem praises the unceasing flow of the Hatsuse River; both take the long passage of time as their theme. There is also a contrast between the stillness of the pine and the motion of the river.
The first line, "Racing over rocks," means water rushing forcefully over stones. "Iwabashiru" is also used as a pillow word for waterfalls and rapids, but here it works as a description of the actual scene.
The second line, "surging, churning as it flows," describes water seething and rushing violently, intensifying the force of the first line.
The third line, "the Hatsuse River," ends on a noun, and the sense breaks here, after the third line. The whole upper verse depicts the torrent of the Hatsuse River and also works as a preface leading into "never ceasing" in the lower verse.
The fourth line, "like it, never ceasing," overlaps the never-ending flow of the river with the poet's never-ending visits. It is the pivotal line that moves from the actual scene of the upper verse to the vow of the lower.
The final line, "I shall come to see again," uses "-mu" to express will. By vowing to return, the poet firmly closes his praise of the scenery of this land.
Author: Ki no Kahito
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Shigeoka ni kamusabi tachite sakaetaru chiyo matsu no ki no toshi no shiranaku
Next Poem: Furusato no asuka wa aredo aoniyoshi nara no asuka o miraku shi yoshi mo