Ōkimi no tsukawasanaku ni sakashira ni yukishi Araora oki ni sode furu

大君の遣はさなくにさかしらに
行きし荒雄ら沖に袖振る

Roma-ji: Ōkimi no tsukawasanaku ni sakashira ni yukishi Araora oki ni sode furu
English Translation: Though our great lord
never sent him on that voyage,
of his own accord
Arao went, and now offshore
he waves his sleeve to me.
Meaning: Though the Sovereign never sent him, Arao went of his own accord, and now, far offshore, he waves his sleeve.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3860

Headnote: "Ten poems on the fisherman of Shika in Chikuzen."
The poem says that Arao, who went to sea of his own will though no royal order sent him, is waving his sleeve offshore. It conveys the grief of a wife who sees in the offing a vision of the man who went in his friend's place and never returned. It opens the set of ten.
According to the left note, in the Jinki era the Dazaifu appointed Munakatabe no Tsumaro of Munakata District in Chikuzen as helmsman of a ship carrying provisions to Tsushima. Too old to bear the sea, Tsumaro asked Arao, a fisherman of Shika village, to take his place, and Arao, bound by a friendship deeper than brotherhood, gladly agreed. He set sail for Tsushima from Cape Mineraku at Matsura in Hizen, but the sky suddenly darkened, a storm of wind and rain arose, and he sank beneath the sea. Some say his wife and children, unable to bear their longing, made these poems; others that Yamanoue no Okura, Governor of Chikuzen, made them in sympathy with their grief.
The poet, according to one account in the left note, is Yamanoue no Okura, who went to Tang China with an embassy and served as Governor of Chikuzen. He is known for poems on life's hardships and family affection. The poems speak in the voice of Arao's wife and children.

First line, "ōkimi no," means "our great lord," opening with a word for public command.
Second line, "tsukawasanaku ni," means "though he did not send him." The nominalized negative naku with ni expresses a concessive feeling.
Third line, "sakashira ni," means "of his own accord," even "meddling," the wife's rueful word for Arao risking his life for a friend.
Fourth line, "yukishi Araora," means "Arao who went." Ra is an affectionate suffix.
Final line, "oki ni sode furu," means "he waves his sleeve offshore." Waving sleeves was a gesture of parting or beckoning, and here she sees the drowned man's ghost. Poem 3864 ends "waves his sleeve on the waves," echoing this pattern within the set.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura (attributed)
Source: Manyoshu
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