Ōtomo no Mitsu no tomari ni fune hatete Tatsuta no yama o itsu ka koeikamu

大伴の御津の泊りに船泊てて
竜田の山をいつか越え行かむ

Roma-ji: Ōtomo no Mitsu no tomari ni fune hatete Tatsuta no yama o itsu ka koeikamu
English Translation: At the harbor
of Mitsu in Ōtomo
mooring our ship,
over Mount Tatsuta
when shall we be crossing
Meaning: Once our ship is moored at the harbor of Mitsu in Ōtomo, when shall we be crossing Mount Tatsuta on the way home?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Poems of the Envoys to Silla 3722

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Five poems composed on returning by way of Tsukushi and reaching Ieshima in Harima Province, on the sea route back to the capital"
He sings of mooring the ship at the harbor of Mitsu in Ōtomo and longing to cross Mount Tatsuta on the road to the capital soon. His thoughts race ahead from the harbor at the end of the voyage to the mountain crossing on the land route to the capital, expressing the heart that awaits the return. It is the last poem of the sequence of the envoys to Silla, ending with the same words as the opening of 3593 of this book, composed on the point of departure, "Ōtomo no Mitsu," so that the whole sequence begins and ends at Mitsu of Ōtomo.
According to the headnote, this is one of five poems composed on the way back from Silla, when the travelers came round by Tsukushi on the sea route to the capital and reached Ieshima in Harima Province. Ieshima is the present-day Ieshima Islands of Himeji, Hyōgo Prefecture. The embassy returned to the capital after the new year, in the ninth year of Tenpyō, but the ambassador Abe no Tsugumaro had died on Tsushima on the way back, and the vice-ambassador Ōtomo no Minaka's return was delayed by illness. The author of this poem is not named.

First line, "Ōtomo no": the Naniwa area was anciently within the sphere of the Ōtomo clan, a place name crowning Mitsu. It is the same as the first line of 3593 of this book.
Second line, "Mitsu no tomari ni": "tomari" is a harbor where ships anchor, here the harbor of Mitsu at Naniwa; they have returned to the place of departure.
Third line, "fune hatete": "hatsu" means a ship coming to port and anchoring, marking the end of the voyage.
Fourth line, "Tatsuta no yama o": the mountain on the border of Yamato and Kawachi, crossed by the road from Naniwa to the Heijō capital.
Fifth line, "itsu ka koeikamu": "ka" is an interrogative binding particle resolved by the attributive "mu": when shall we cross it, ending with a heart impatient for the return to the capital.
Source: Manyoshu
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