Kashifue ni tazu nakiwataru Shika no ura ni okitsu shiranami tachishi kurashi mo

可之布江に鶴鳴き渡る志賀の浦に
沖つ白波立ちし来らしも

Roma-ji: Kashifue ni tazu nakiwataru Shika no ura ni okitsu shiranami tachishi kurashi mo
English Translation: Toward Kashifu Inlet
the cranes fly crying past;
in the bay of Shika
the white waves of the offing
seem to be rising now
Meaning: The cranes fly crying toward Kashifu Inlet; in Shika Bay the white waves of the offing seem to be rising and rolling in.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3654

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Four poems composed in grief on reaching the lodge in Tsukushi and gazing far toward home"
A descriptive poem: seeing cranes fly crying toward Kashifu Inlet, he surmises that the white waves of the offing must be rising in Shika Bay. The device of reading changes in the sea from the movement of birds is the same as in 3597 of this book, "okitsu shiranami tachikurashi," showing the observant eye for nature nurtured on the voyage. A left note records a variant ending, "michishi kinurashi" (the tide seems to have risen). Kashifu Inlet is thought to be the inlet of Kashii, near Kashii in present-day Higashi Ward, Fukuoka.
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, "Kashifue ni": thought to be the inlet of Kashii, near Kashii in present-day Higashi Ward, Fukuoka.
Second line, "tazu nakiwataru": cranes fly crying past; the poem breaks after the second line. This movement of the cranes is the ground for the inference in the last line.
Third line, "Shika no ura ni": the bay of Shikanoshima in Hakata Bay, a six-syllable hypermetric line.
Fourth line, "okitsu shiranami": the white waves of the offing; the same words appear in 3597 of this book.
Fifth line, "tachishi kurashi mo": "shi" is emphatic, "rashi" grounded inference, and "mo" exclamatory. The variant in the left note has "michishi kinurashi," meaning the tide seems to have risen.
Source: Manyoshu
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