Ise no ama no asana yūna ni kazuku to iu awabi no kai no katamoi ni shite

伊勢の海人の朝な夕なに潜くといふ
鰒の貝の片思にして

Roma-ji: Ise no ama no asana yūna ni kazuku to iu awabi no kai no katamoi ni shite
English Translation: Just as Ise's
fishers, morning and evening,
dive to gather up,
so they say, the abalone
with one shell: one-sided my love
Meaning: Like the abalone that the fisherfolk of Ise are said to dive for morning and evening, a shell with but one side, my love is one-sided too.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2798

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
As the abalone that the fisherfolk of Ise are said to dive for morning and evening has a shell on only one side, so the speaker's love remains one-sided: so the poem laments. The last line breaks off, leaving the ache of unrequited love as a lingering echo.
This is the last poem in the sequence on shells, linking the abalone, whose shell has but one side, to "katamoi," one-sided love. Like "isogai no katakoi nomi ni" in poem 2796, it uses a one-sided shell to lead into one-sided love, an idea that anticipates the later saying "iso no awabi no kataomoi," the one-sided love of the abalone on the shore.
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, "ise no ama no": "of the fisherfolk of Ise." The line has one syllable too many, and the first four lines form a preface leading to "katamoi." Ise, in present-day Mie Prefecture, was known for its diving fisherfolk.
Second line, "asana yūna ni": "morning and evening," meaning every day without fail.
Third line, "kazuku to iu": "who, they say, dive for." "To iu" marks hearsay.
Fourth line, "awabi no kai no": "like the abalone shell." Since the abalone has a shell on only one side, it leads into "katamoi" below.
Fifth line, "katamoi ni shite": "being one-sided in love." "Ni shite" is the continuative "ni" of the copula "nari" with the particle "shite"; the poem breaks off here, leaving an unspoken grief to linger.
Source: Manyoshu
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