Akatoki no iegoishiki ni urami yori kaji no oto suru wa ama otome kamo

暁の家恋しきに浦廻より
楫の音するは海人娘子かも

Roma-ji: Akatoki no iegoishiki ni urami yori kaji no oto suru wa ama otome kamo
English Translation: In the hour before dawn
as I long for my home,
from around the bay
the sound of oars I hear;
is it a fisher maiden
Meaning: In the dark before dawn, as I am filled with longing for home, the sound of oars comes from around the bay: is it a fisher maiden rowing?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3641

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems composed on the night the ship anchored at Kumage Bay"
In the hour before dawn when his longing for home grows strongest, he hears the sound of oars from around the bay and wonders whether a fisher maiden is rowing. In the stillness of daybreak, sleepless and thinking of home, his heart is caught for a moment by the sound of oars. 3624 of this book also sang of oars sounding over the night sea, so the expression of a voyage's nighttime loneliness through sound recurs.
According to the headnote, this is one of four poems composed on the night the ship anchored at Kumage Bay, a bay in Kumage District, Suō Province; one view places it near present-day Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Of the four, only the first has its author named; the author of this poem is not named.

First line, "akatoki no": "akatoki" is the dark time before dawn.
Second line, "iegoishiki ni": when I long for home, the heart thinking of home in sleeplessness.
Third line, "urami yori": "urami" is the curve of a bay: from around the bay.
Fourth line, "kaji no oto suru wa": "kaji" are oars: that the sound of oars is heard. The line has eight syllables, hypermetric.
Fifth line, "ama otome kamo": "kamo" is an exclamation containing a question: might it be a fisher maiden, the poem ends imagining.
Source: Manyoshu
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