Unahara no tōki watari o miyabio no asobu o mimu to nazusai zo koshi

海原の遠き渡りを風流士の
遊ぶを見むとなづさひぞ来し

Roma-ji: Unahara no tōki watari o miyabio no asobu o mimu to nazusai zo koshi
English Translation: Across the wide sea,
over the far crossing waves,
the men of refinement
at their revels I would see,
so I came tossed by the waves
Meaning: Over the distant crossing of the wide sea, wishing to see you men of refinement at your revels, I have come here, tossed about by the waves.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 1016

Headnote: "A poem from a banquet when various gentlemen gathered at the house of Kose no Asomi Sukunamaro, Junior Controller of the Left, in the second month of spring"
This poem says that the speaker has crossed the distant sea, tossed about by the waves, in order to see the men of refinement at their revels. According to the headnote, it comes from a banquet held in the second month of spring in Tenpyō 9 (737), when officials gathered at the house of Kose no Sukunamaro, Junior Controller of the Left.
According to the left note, the poem was written on white paper and hung on the wall of the room, with the title: "A pouch-garland into which a fairy maiden of Hōrai has transformed herself, for the sake of gentlemen of refinement and talent; perhaps this is not something ordinary guests may hope to see." The conceit is that a fairy maiden living on Mount Hōrai beyond the sea has come to visit the men of taste gathered at the banquet, a playful staging drawing on Daoist ideas of immortals.
The author is not known. The poem is attributed to a fairy maiden and appears to be a jest by someone present at the banquet, but the actual poet cannot be identified.

Following the poems from Prince Kadobe's banquet, in which host and guests exchanged greetings, this is also a banquet poem, but it shifts to entertaining the guests through the fiction of a visiting fairy maiden.
The first line, "Across the wide sea," indicates that the land of Hōrai, where the fairy maiden lives, lies beyond the ocean.
In the second line, "over the far crossing waves," the particle "o" marks the place passed through, conveying the length of the journey across the sea.
The third line, "the men of refinement," renders "miyabio," a term of praise for the officials gathered at the banquet as men of taste.
The fourth line, "at their revels I would see," states the purpose of the visit. "Asobu" refers to the elegant pleasures of a banquet, such as poetry and music.
The final line, "so I came tossed by the waves," means "I have come, drifting and struggling through the water." The emphatic particle "zo" is answered by "shi," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," in a kakari-musubi construction that closes the poem by stressing the long journey.
Source: Manyoshu
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