Ago no ura ni funanori suramu otomera ga akamo no suso ni shio mitsuramu ka

安胡の浦に舟乗りすらむ娘子らが
赤裳の裾に潮満つらむか

Roma-ji: Ago no ura ni funanori suramu otomera ga akamo no suso ni shio mitsuramu ka
English Translation: In the bay of Ago
boarding boats, I imagine,
the young maidens there,
the hems of their red skirts,
is the tide washing them now
Meaning: The maidens who must be boarding boats in the bay of Ago: is the tide rising now about the hems of their red skirts?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3610

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Old poems recited to suit the place"
He imagines the maidens who must be boarding boats in faraway Ago Bay, and wonders whether the tide is rising about the hems of their red skirts. According to the left note, in Hitomaro's poem the first line is "Ami no ura" and the fourth "tamamo no suso ni," corresponding to 40 in Book One. Hitomaro's poem was composed when he remained in the capital during Empress Jitō's progress to Ise, imagining the gaiety of the royal excursion; the travelers seem to have recited it as a song thinking of the people of the capital from afar.
The author, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, active as a court poet in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, and left many fine travel poems and elegies. This poem has come down in a form in which his poem was altered by members of the embassy as they recited it.
According to the headnote, 3602 to 3610 of this book are old poems the travelers recited along the way as suited to the place. Poems not of their own making were thus taken into the travel sequence, showing how people of the time shared old poems and adapted them to the occasion.

First line, "Ago no ura ni": the location of Ago Bay is disputed; one view identifies it with Ago Bay in Shima. Hitomaro's poem has "Ami no ura."
Second line, "funanori suramu": "ramu" conjectures a present matter not before one's eyes: they must be boarding boats.
Third line, "otomera ga": "ra" marks the plural: the young women enjoying the boating.
Fourth line, "akamo no suso ni": "mo" is a skirt worn from the waist down; red skirts suggest the dress of court ladies. Hitomaro's poem has "tamamo no suso ni."
Fifth line, "shio mitsuramu ka": "ramu ka" adds a question to present conjecture: is the tide rising now to wet their hems, the poem ends imagining.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro (variant)
Source: Manyoshu
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