Asari su to iso ni waga mishi nanoriso o izure no shima no ama ka karikemu

あさりすと磯に我が見しなのりそを
いづれの島の海人か刈りけむ

Roma-ji: Asari su to iso ni waga mishi nanoriso o izure no shima no ama ka karikemu
English Translation: Seeking by the sea,
on the rocks I saw it grow,
the "tell-no-one" weed—
from which island was the diver
who has cut it, I wonder?
Meaning: The "tell-no-one" seaweed I saw on the rocky shore while foraging—from which island, I wonder, came the diver who has cut it?
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1167

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on Journeys"
The poet regrets that the "nanoriso" seaweed he had noticed on the rocky shore has been cut by a diver from some island. It is read as an allegorical poem that likens the seaweed to a woman who caught his eye and laments that she has become another man's.
Though one of the poems composed on journeys, it carries an allegory of love. "Nanoriso" is a seaweed whose name echoes "na nori so" (tell no one), and it often appears in love poems of the Man'yōshū. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "Seeking by the sea," means "as I went foraging"; poem 1198 in this book has the same first line.
The second line, "on the rocks I saw it grow," means "that I saw on the rocky shore."
The third line names "nanoriso," the seaweed hondawara, whose name echoes "tell no one."
The fourth line, "from which island," asks where the diver came from.
The final line is a kakari-musubi construction in which "ka" is answered by the attributive "kemu": "did a diver cut it?"
Source: Manyoshu
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