Soko kiyomi shizukeru tama o mimaku hori chitabi zo norishi kazuki suru ama

底清み沈ける玉を見まく欲り
千たびぞ告りし潜きする海人

Roma-ji: Soko kiyomi shizukeru tama o mimaku hori chitabi zo norishi kazuki suru ama
English Translation: The depths are so clear,
wishing I could see the pearl
lying far below,
a thousand times I have begged
the fisher diving the sea
Meaning: The water is so clear that the pearl lies there to be seen—wishing to look on it, a thousand times I have begged the fisherman who dives.
Commentary: Book Seven Allegorical Poems 1318

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Jewels"
Longing to see the pearl lying in the clear depths, the poet has begged the diving fisherman a thousand times. The pearl stands for a beloved woman and the fisherman for a go-between, and the poem conveys the eagerness to meet her that drives him to plead again and again.
It is the second poem on jewels. Its fourth and final lines, "a thousand times I have begged the fisher diving the sea," are exactly the same as those of poem 1302 in this book, a Hitomaro Collection poem on jewels, and the third line, "wishing I could see," is also shared. It replaces that poem's "the white pearl the sea god holds" with "the pearl lying in the clear depths." The poet is unknown.

In the first line, "The depths are so clear," "mi" gives the cause.
The second line, "the pearl lying far below," echoes "lies a pearl" in the second line of the preceding poem.
The third line, "wishing I could see," is the same as the third line of poem 1302 in this book.
The fourth line, "a thousand times I have begged," is a kakari-musubi construction in which "zo" is answered by the attributive "shi," and the poem pauses here.
The final line, "the fisher diving the sea," names by inversion the one he begged, and is the same as the last line of poem 1302.
Source: Manyoshu
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