Toyokuni no Kiku no ike naru hishi no ure o tsumu to ya imo ga misode nurekemu

豊国の企救の池なる菱の末を
摘むとや妹がみ袖濡れけむ

Roma-ji: Toyokuni no Kiku no ike naru hishi no ure o tsumu to ya imo ga misode nurekemu
English Translation: In Toyo land,
in the pond of Kiku there,
the water-chestnuts—
was it picking them, my love,
that wet your sleeves so?
Meaning: Did my love get her sleeves wet trying to pick the water-chestnuts in Kiku Pond in the land of Toyo?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3876

Headnote: "A poem by a fisherman of Buzen; one poem."
The singer wonders whether his love wet her sleeves picking water-chestnuts in Kiku Pond. Tenderly picturing a girl working at the water's edge, it is a work song thought to have been sung as a folk song.
Handed down as a fisherman's song from Buzen, it pairs with the next poem, 3877, a fisherman's song from Bungo, so that the two halves of Toyo stand together. Kiku is in the area of present-day Kitakyūshū, Fukuoka Prefecture.
The poet is a fisherman of Buzen; his name is not recorded.

First line, "Toyokuni no," names the old province of Toyo, comprising Buzen and Bungo, which links it with the Bungo poet of the next poem.
Second line, "Kiku no ike naru," means "in the pond of Kiku."
Third line, "hishi no ure o," means "the water-chestnuts." Ure means the tip, here thought to mean the nuts; the line is hypermetric at six syllables.
Fourth line, "tsumu to ya imo ga," means "was it picking them that my love." Ya forms a kakari-musubi with kemu in the final line.
Final line, "misode nurekemu," means "wet her sleeves?" The past conjectural kemu imagines the girl, absent from the scene.
Source: Manyoshu
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