Tsukasa koso sashite mo yarame sakashira ni yukishi Araora nami ni sode furu

官こそさしても遣らめさかしらに
行きし荒雄ら波に袖振る

Roma-ji: Tsukasa koso sashite mo yarame sakashira ni yukishi Araora nami ni sode furu
English Translation: The officials might
have named him and sent him off,
but of his own accord
Arao went, and on the waves
he waves his sleeve to me.
Meaning: The officials might well have named him and sent him, but Arao went of his own accord, and now on the waves he waves his sleeve.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3864

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten poems on the fisherman of Shika in Chikuzen."
If the authorities had named and sent him, it would be another matter, but Arao went of his own will and now waves his sleeve upon the waves. Repeating almost the substance of the first poem of the set, it deepens the grief of a wife who cannot accept his death.
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, "tsukasa koso," means "the officials, indeed." Koso forms a kakari-musubi with me in the second line. It recasts "ōkimi no" in the first line of poem 3860.
Second line, "sashite mo yarame," means "they might have named and sent him." The koso... me construction carries a concessive sense leading on.
Third line, "sakashira ni," means "of his own accord," the same as the third line of poem 3860.
Fourth line, "yukishi Araora," means "Arao who went," also the same as in 3860.
Final line, "nami ni sode furu," means "he waves his sleeve on the waves." Replacing oki, "offshore," of 3860 with nami, "waves," it echoes that poem in the same pattern.
Author: Yamanoue no Okura (attributed)
Source: Manyoshu
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