Shika no ura ni isari suru ama iebito no machikouramu ni akashi tsuru uo

志賀の浦に漁りする海人家人の
待ち恋ふらむに明かし釣る魚

Roma-ji: Shika no ura ni isari suru ama iebito no machikouramu ni akashi tsuru uo
English Translation: In the bay of Shika
you fishermen at your work;
while those at your homes
must long for you, waiting,
you fish the whole night through
Meaning: Fishermen at work in Shika Bay: though your families must be waiting and longing for you, you fish on until dawn.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3653

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems composed in grief on reaching the lodge in Tsukushi and gazing far toward home"
Seeing the fishermen of Shika fishing through the night, he imagines that their families must be waiting and longing for them. His concern for the waiting hearts of the fishermen's families is the reverse side of his own thoughts of the family waiting for him at home; his own lot is overlaid on theirs.
According to the headnote, this is one of four poems composed in grief on reaching the lodge in Tsukushi and gazing far toward home. The Tsukushi lodge was a facility for diplomatic missions overlooking Hakata Bay, thought to correspond to the later Kōrokan. The author is not named.

First line, "Shika no ura ni": the bay of Shikanoshima in Hakata Bay. The line has six syllables, hypermetric.
Second line, "isari suru ama": an address to the fishermen at work; the poem breaks here.
Third line, "iebito no": "iebito" are family, those at home, here the fishermen's families.
Fourth line, "machikouramu ni": "ramu" conjectures a present matter out of sight and "ni" is adversative: though they must be waiting and longing.
Fifth line, "akashi tsuru uo": "akasu" means to pass the night until dawn: fish caught all night long. Ending on a noun, it impresses the fishermen's night fishing that keeps their families waiting.
Source: Manyoshu
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