Ware nomi ya yobune wa kogu to omoereba okibe no kata ni kaji no oto su nari

我れのみや夜船は漕ぐと思へれば
沖辺の方に楫の音すなり

Roma-ji: Ware nomi ya yobune wa kogu to omoereba okibe no kata ni kaji no oto su nari
English Translation: Is it only I
who row a boat by night,
so I had thought,
but out toward the offing
the sound of oars is heard
Meaning: I had thought that I alone was rowing through the night, but from out toward the offing comes the sound of oars.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3624

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three poems composed on the night of sailing out from Nagato Bay, gazing up at the moonlight"
He had thought that only his own ship was rowing through the night sea, when from out toward the offing he hears the sound of oars. Learning by sound of another boat on the dark sea, he expresses the relief and surprise of suddenly finding company amid a lonely night voyage. It is the last of three poems on the night departure from Nagato Bay, which in turn capture moonlight, fishing lamps, and the sound of oars: the lights and sounds of the sea at night.
According to the headnote, this is one of three poems composed on the night the ship sailed from Nagato Bay, gazing up at the moonlight. Nagato Bay is thought to be the harbor of Kurahashi Island. The author is not named.

First line, "ware nomi ya": "ya" is an interrogative binding particle: I alone? The question extends to "kogu" in the second line.
Second line, "yobune wa kogu to": "yobune" is a boat rowed by night: the thought that only he is rowing at night.
Third line, "omoereba": "re" is the realis of the continuative "ri": when I had been thinking so.
Fourth line, "okibe no kata ni": toward the area of the offing, indicating a distant boat unseen in the dark.
Fifth line, "kaji no oto su nari": "kaji" are oars and "nari" an auxiliary of inference from sound: the sound of oars is heard, the poem ends.
Source: Manyoshu
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