Momozushima ashigara obune aruki ōmi me koso karurame kokoro wa moedo

百づ島足柄小舟歩き多み
目こそ離るらめ心は思へど

Roma-ji: Momozushima ashigara obune aruki ōmi me koso karurame kokoro wa moedo
English Translation: Round a hundred isles
goes the little Ashigara boat:
so much roaming about,
no wonder you are seldom seen—
though your heart, you say, is mine.
Meaning: Like a little Ashigara boat calling at a hundred islands, you go roaming so much that you seldom come to see me—though you say your heart is mine.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3367

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like a little Ashigara boat rounding a hundred islands, the lover has so many places to visit that he no longer comes—though he claims to love her in his heart. It is taken as a woman's teasing of a fickle man, and its sharp irony is typical of folk song.
It is one of the Sagami poems. The Ashigara boat was made from the timber of Mount Ashigara and was known as light and swift.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.

First line, "momozushima": A hundred islands, the many isles a boat calls at, hinting at the many places the lover visits.
Second line, "ashigara obune": A small boat built of Ashigara timber. The first two lines form a preface leading to "aruki ōmi."
Third line, "aruki ōmi": "Aruki" is going about, and "mi" gives the reason: because you roam so much.
Fourth line, "me koso karurame": "Me karu" means ceasing to meet; "koso ... rame" is a binding construction: surely that is why you stay away.
Final line, "kokoro wa moedo": Concessive: though you say your heart is with me. Taking up his excuse, the poem ends in irony, inverting the last two lines.
Source: Manyoshu
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