Watatsumi no te ni makimoteru tama yue ni iso no urami ni kazuki suru kamo

海神の手に巻き持てる玉故に
磯の浦廻に潜きするかも

Roma-ji: Watatsumi no te ni makimoteru tama yue ni iso no urami ni kazuki suru kamo
English Translation: For the jewel held
wound about the sea god's hand,
only for its sake
round the coves of rocky shores
how I dive beneath the waves
Meaning: For the sake of the jewel the sea god keeps wound about his hand, here I am diving along the rocky coves of the shore.
Commentary: Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1301

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Jewels"
For the sake of the jewel the sea god keeps wound about his hand, the poet finds himself diving in the coves of the rocky shore. The sea god stands for the girl's parent and the jewel for the girl, and the poem is taken as describing his struggle to win a daughter her parent guards so closely.
It is the third poem of the series on jewels, and the first of three that bring in the sea god. Together with the next poems, 1302 and 1303, it forms a continuous motif of the sea god, the jewel, and the diving fisherman. According to the left note it comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection.

The first line, "the sea god," stands for the girl's parent; the same word appears in the next poem and in 1303.
The second line, "wound about the sea god's hand," means he keeps it close and guards it.
The third line, "only for its sake," refers to the jewel that stands for the daughter.
The fourth line, "round the coves of rocky shores," means along the winding inlets.
In the final line, "kamo" expresses exclamation: "how I dive." It corresponds to "the fisherman who dives" in the last line of the next poem.
Source: Manyoshu
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