Ōsaki no ariso no watari hau kuzu no yukue mo naku ya koiwatarinamu

大崎の荒礒の渡り延ふ葛の
ゆくへもなくや恋ひわたりなむ

Roma-ji: Ōsaki no ariso no watari hau kuzu no yukue mo naku ya koiwatarinamu
English Translation: Like the arrowroot
that trails along the rocky shore
at Ōsaki,
with no end that I can see
must I go on longing still
Meaning: Like the arrowroot trailing over the rocky shore at Ōsaki, must I go on longing with no end in sight?
Commentary: Book Twelve Expressing Thoughts through Things 3072

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Thoughts through Things"
Using arrowroot trailing over a rocky shore with no fixed direction as an introduction, the poet laments going on loving without knowing where it will lead. Among the vine poems, it voices the anxiety of a love whose future cannot be seen.
The poet is unknown. Book Twelve, titled the second part of "Love Poems Exchanged Old and New," gathers love poems by people whose names have not come down to us, arranged by category.

Line one, "Ōsaki no," is taken to mean "of Ōsaki" in Wakayama Prefecture.
Line two, "ariso no watari," means "around the rough, rocky shore."
Line three, "hau kuzu no," means "like the trailing arrowroot," and the lines up to here form an introduction leading, through vines with no fixed course, to "yukue mo naku."
Line four, "yukue mo naku ya," means "with no end in sight?", with "ya" a question concluded by the attributive "namu" in line five.
Line five, "koiwatarinamu," means "must I go on longing?"
Author: Unknown
Source: Manyoshu
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