Ōtomo no mitsu no shiranami aida naku a ga kōraku o hito no shiranaku

大伴の御津の白波間なく
我が恋ふらくを人の知らなく

Roma-ji: Ōtomo no mitsu no shiranami aida naku a ga kōraku o hito no shiranaku
English Translation: At Ōtomo's port
of Mitsu the white waves break,
never pausing once:
that I love you without end,
this is what you do not know
Meaning: Like the white waves at Mitsu in Ōtomo, without pause I love you, and yet you do not know it.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2737

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Like the white waves that break without end at Mitsu in Ōtomo, the speaker loves without pause, yet the beloved does not know it. The poem expresses both the depth of feeling and the frustration of its not being conveyed. It is also seen as a poem in a woman's voice.
As a poem expressing feelings through things, it speaks through the white waves at Mitsu in Naniwa. Like the preceding poem, it places "aida naku" in its third line and uses waves as a preface. Where the preceding poem voiced unease in guessing at the other's heart, this one laments that one's own love is unknown, so the same "aida naku" gives rise to two different anxieties.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "Ōtomo no": "of Ōtomo." Because the area of Naniwa was called the land of Ōtomo, it is attached to the place name Mitsu.
Second line, "mitsu no shiranami": "the white waves at Mitsu," the harbor of Naniwa. The lines up to here form a preface, leading from the endless white waves to "aida naku."
Third line, "aida naku": "without pause." It is the same line as the third line of the preceding poem.
Fourth line, "a ga kōraku o": "that I am in love." "Kōraku" is the nominalized form of "kou," "to love."
Fifth line, "hito no shiranaku": "that the one I love does not know." "Hito" is understood as the beloved. "Shiranaku" is the nominalized form of the negative "zu," ending the poem with deep feeling.
Source: Manyoshu
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