Waga seko o aga matsubara yo miwataseba ama otomedomo tamamo karu miyu

我が背子を安我松原よ見わたせば
海人娘子ども玉藻刈る見ゆ

Roma-ji: Waga seko o aga matsubara yo miwataseba ama otomedomo tamamo karu miyu
English Translation: My love, I wait for you—
from the pine grove of Aga
as I gaze afar,
there I see the fisher maids
cutting the jewel-like seaweed
Meaning: Gazing out from the pine grove of Aga, I can see the fisher girls cutting the jewel-like seaweed.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3890

Headnote: "In the eleventh month, winter, of the second year of Tenpyō, when Lord Ōtomo, Governor-General of Dazaifu, was appointed Major Counselor (while keeping his post as before) and went up to the capital, his attendants took a separate sea route. Grieving over the journey, each set down his heart in these ten poems"
Looking out over the shore from the pine grove of Aga, the poet sees fisher girls cutting seaweed. In 730, when Ōtomo no Tabito, Governor-General of Dazaifu, was appointed Major Counselor and returned to the capital, his attendants traveled separately by sea and set down the sorrows of their voyage in ten poems. Placed at the head of the ten, this poem captures a calm shoreline seen at the start of the sea voyage. The opening phrase "Waga seko o" carries a note of waiting for someone dear, quietly lending the scene the feeling of departure.
The poet, Mino no Iwamori, was one of the attendants who served Ōtomo no Tabito, bearing the hereditary title Muraji. Nothing more is known of him.
The left note reads "The above poem is by Mino no Muraji Iwamori"; he is the only named poet in the set of ten, and the authors of the following nine are said to be unknown.

First line, "Waga seko o" ("my beloved"): through the sense "I wait (aga matsu) for my beloved," it introduces the place name Aga Matsubara, playing on aga ("my") and matsu ("pine" / "wait") in the manner of a pillow word. The longing of one who waits is laid over the place name, giving the opening of the travel poems a tone of yearning.
Second line, "Aga matsubara yo": Aga Matsubara is an unidentified place, sometimes placed on the coast of Chikuzen. The particle yo marks a starting point, meaning "from." Poem 3899, which closes the set, sings of the pine grove of Tsuno, so the ten poems begin and end with a pine grove.
Third line, "miwataseba": the realis form with ba expresses a fulfilled condition, "when I gaze out."
Fourth line, "ama otomedomo": young women of the fisherfolk; domo marks the plural. Poem 3899 likewise opens with "ama otome," so the first and last poems of the set answer each other through the fisher maidens.
Fifth line, "tamamo karu miyu": an archaic construction in which miyu ("can be seen") follows a verb in its conclusive form—"I see them cutting the seaweed." Tama is an honorific prefix. Poem 4017 in this book likewise ends "kogi kakuru miyu," sharing the same distant gaze upon people at work by the sea.
Author: Mino no Iwamori
Source: Manyoshu
Prev Poem: Hitodama no saonaru kimi ga tada hitori aerishi amayo no hahisa shi omōyu
Next Poem: Aratsu no umi shiohi shiomichi toki wa aredo izure no toki ka aga koizaramu