Ōtomo no mitsu no hamabe o uchisarashi yosekuru nami no yukue shirazu mo

大伴の御津の浜辺をうちさらし
寄せ来る波のゆくへ知らずも

Roma-ji: Ōtomo no mitsu no hamabe o uchisarashi yosekuru nami no yukue shirazu mo
English Translation: At Ōtomo,
on the beach of Mitsu harbor,
washing it bare,
the waves come rolling shoreward—
where they go, no one can know
Meaning: The waves that roll in, washing the beach at Mitsu in Ōtomo—where they go afterward, no one knows.
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1151

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed in Settsu"
The poet says that no one knows where the waves go that wash the beach at Mitsu and roll in and out. The unknown course of the waves may also be read as overlaid with the traveler's anxiety about his own future or with the transience of life.
It is one of the poems composed in Settsu. Mitsu was the harbor of Naniwa, from which envoys to Tang China and others set sail. Poem 1159 in this book shares the third and fourth lines, "washing it bare, the waves come rolling," and sings of the waves in the same words. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "At Ōtomo," is an old name for the Naniwa area, modifying "Mitsu."
The second line, "on the beach of Mitsu harbor," refers to the beach of the Naniwa port.
The third line, "washing it bare," describes the waves scouring the beach; it is the same as the third line of poem 1159.
The fourth line, "the waves come rolling shoreward," is also shared with poem 1159.
In the final line, "mo" is exclamatory: "where they go, no one knows!"
Source: Manyoshu
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