Nako no umi o asa kogikureba watanaka ni kako zo nakunaru aware sono kako

名児の海を朝漕ぎ来れば海中に
鹿子ぞ鳴くなるあはれその鹿子

Roma-ji: Nako no umi o asa kogikureba watanaka ni kako zo nakunaru aware sono kako
English Translation: On the Sea of Nako
as I came rowing at dawn,
from out on the sea
I hear the calling of a deer—
ah, how moving, that deer
Meaning: As I came rowing across the Sea of Nako at dawn, I heard a deer calling from out on the sea—ah, that deer!
Commentary: Book Seven Elegies 1417

Headnote: "A Travel Poem"
Rowing across the Sea of Nako in the morning, the poet hears a deer calling out on the sea and is moved: ah, that deer! The unexpected cry heard on the water carries both the loneliness of travel and a deep stirring of feeling.
Its headnote reads "A Travel Poem," and its content is indeed a travel poem, yet it is placed at the end of the elegy section as the last poem of Book Seven. Why it stands among the elegies has been questioned. The Sea of Nako is thought to be near Suminoe in Settsu. The poet is unknown.

Where the book's opening poem, 1068, shows the moon boat rowing away into the sea of heaven, this closing poem shows a boat rowing across the Sea of Nako, so the book begins and ends with poems of rowing boats.
The first line, "On the Sea of Nako," names the sea in Settsu and has an extra syllable.
The second line, "as I came rowing at dawn," describes rowing in the morning.
The third line, "from out on the sea," is thought to describe a deer's cry from an offshore island carrying over the water.
In the fourth line, "zo" is answered by the attributive "naru," which here infers from sound: "I hear a deer calling." The poem pauses here.
The final line, "ah, how moving, that deer," repeats "kako" from the fourth line and closes on a noun with deep feeling.
Source: Manyoshu
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