Makaji nuki fune shi yukazu wa miredo akanu Marifu no ura ni yadori semashi o

真楫貫き船し行かずは見れど飽かぬ
麻里布の浦に宿りせましを

Roma-ji: Makaji nuki fune shi yukazu wa miredo akanu Marifu no ura ni yadori semashi o
English Translation: If the ship with oars
set along both sides
were not moving on,
at Marifu Bay, never tiring,
I would make my lodging
Meaning: If only the ship, its oars set on both sides, were not pressing on, I would stay the night at Marifu Bay, which I could gaze upon forever.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3630

Headnote: "Eight poems composed when passing Marifu Bay in Kuga District, Suō Province"
Praising the beauty of the place, he wishes that, were the ship not hurrying on, he could stay the night at Marifu Bay, of which he never tires. It expresses the lot of an official who can only pass by according to the itinerary, and his lingering attachment to the lovely bay. "Miredo akanu Marifu no ura" is repeated in 3635 of this book within the same sequence, so that the praise of Marifu Bay echoes through the eight poems.
According to the headnote, this is one of eight poems composed when passing Marifu Bay in Kuga District, Suō Province, thought to be the coast of present-day Iwakuni, Yamaguchi Prefecture. The author is not named.

First line, "makaji nuki": "makaji" are oars set on both sides of a ship and "nuku" means to fit them.
Second line, "fune shi yukazu wa": "shi" is emphatic and "zu wa" a negative supposition: if the ship were not going on. It answers "mashi" in the last line.
Third line, "miredo akanu": however much one looks one does not tire, a stock phrase of praise for a place; the line has six syllables, a hypermetric line.
Fourth line, "Marifu no ura ni": Marifu Bay in Suō Province, thought to be the coast of present-day Iwakuni.
Fifth line, "yadori semashi o": "mashi" is counterfactual and "o" an exclamation with an adversative turn: I would lodge there, the poem ends in regret.
Source: Manyoshu
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