Mishimae no irie no komo o kari ni koso ware oba kimi wa omoitarikere

三島江の入江の薦を刈りにこそ
我れをば君は思ひたりけれ

Roma-ji: Mishimae no irie no komo o kari ni koso ware oba kimi wa omoitarikere
English Translation: In Mishima Bay,
the rushes of the inlet
cut but for a while,
as a passing fancy, you
thought of me, as I now see
Meaning: Like the rushes cut in the inlet of Mishima Bay, I see now you thought of me only as a passing fancy.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2766

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
You thought of me as nothing more than a passing fancy: so a woman, having seen through the man's heart, reproaches him. From the scene of cutting rushes in the inlet of Mishima Bay, the poem plays on "kari," both "cutting" and "temporary," and sharply conveys the grief of a woman who learns she was trifled with.
Like the two preceding poems, it is a poem on rushes. Where they matched the scattering of cut rushes to the disorder of the heart, here the "kari" of cutting rushes turns into "kari," a passing thing, and the same rushes become material for speaking of the man's faithlessness.
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, "mishimae no": a place name, an inlet along the Yodo River at Mishima in Settsu Province. Known as a waterside thick with rushes, it sets the scene.
Second line, "irie no komo o": "the rushes of the inlet." The first two lines form a preface, the cutting of rushes leading into "kari."
Third line, "kari ni koso": a pivot word joining "kari" (cutting the rushes) and "kari" (for the time being). The particle "koso" is answered by the realis "kere" in the last line.
Fourth line, "ware oba kimi wa": "me, you." "Oba" singles out the object, and resentment at being lightly regarded seeps through.
Fifth line, "omoitarikere": "you were thinking, I now see." "Tari" marks a continuing state and "keri" a dawning realization; taking up "koso," it closes in the realis form "kere."
Source: Manyoshu
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