Tamahayasu Muko no watari ni amazutau hi no kure yukeba ie o shi zo omou

たまはやす武庫の渡りに天伝ふ
日の暮れ行けば家をしぞ思ふ

Roma-ji: Tamahayasu Muko no watari ni amazutau hi no kure yukeba ie o shi zo omou
English Translation: Where jewels are prized,
at the crossing of Muko,
as through heaven's path
the sun goes down into dusk,
it is home I think upon
Meaning: At the ferry of Muko, as the sun that travels across the sky goes down into evening, it is my home I keep thinking of.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3895

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "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"
At the Muko ferry, as the sun goes down, the poet thinks constantly of home—a poem of the traveler's melancholy at nightfall. 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. Apparently composed on arriving at Muko in Settsu, it plainly expresses the longing for home that comes with dusk, even with the capital close at hand.
The left note records the poet's name as unknown; he was one of the attendants of Tabito who traveled to the capital by sea.

First line, "tamahayasu": a pillow word for Muko whose connection is unclear.
Second line, "Muko no watari ni": Muko lies near the mouth of the Muko River in present-day Hyōgo; watari is a ferry landing where boats come and go.
Third line, "amazutau": "traveling across the sky," a pillow word for the sun. With pillow words in both the first and third lines, the rhythm is carefully balanced.
Fourth line, "hi no kure yukeba": the realis form with ba, "as the sun goes down." Evening was the hour when travelers thought of home.
Fifth line, "ie o shi zo omou": the same final line as the preceding poem, 3894, with zo answered by the attributive omou. Where the preceding poem seizes the instant between oar strokes, this one takes the close of a day, both converging on the thought of home.
Source: Manyoshu
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