Okitsukuni ushihaku kimi no nuriyakata ninuri no yakata kami no to wataru

沖つ国うしはく君の塗り屋形
丹塗りの屋形神の門渡る

Roma-ji: Okitsukuni ushihaku kimi no nuriyakata ninuri no yakata kami no to wataru
English Translation: Lord who holds the sway
of the land beyond the sea,
your painted cabin,
your cabin daubed in red,
crosses the strait of the gods.
Meaning: The painted cabin of the lord who rules the land beyond the sea, its cabin daubed in red, is crossing the strait of the gods.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems with Tales of Origin and Miscellaneous Poems 3888

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three poems on fearsome things."
The poem tells of the red-painted cabin boat of the lord who rules the land beyond the sea, crossing a strait ruled by the gods. The land offshore may be the land of the dead, and the poem paints the eerie sight of a boat carrying souls.
The three "poems on fearsome things" form a set on the terrors of other worlds—a field in heaven, a land beyond the sea, a soul-fire—and are placed at the end of Book Sixteen. They may have been recited at banquets to give the company a fright.
The poet is not recorded.

First line, "okitsukuni," means "the land beyond the sea," understood as the land of the dead believed to lie across the waters.
Second line, "ushihaku kimi no," means "of the lord who rules it," the master of the other world.
Third line, "nuriyakata," means "a painted cabin," a roofed room built on a boat.
Fourth line, "ninuri no yakata," means "a cabin painted red," repeating yakata and adding red to heighten the image.
Final line, "kami no to wataru," means "crosses the strait of the gods." Where the preceding poem, 3887, sang of a meadow in heaven, this one sings of a land beyond the sea, pairing heaven above with the sea below as other worlds.
Source: Manyoshu
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