Ōumi no okuka mo shirazu yuku ware o itsu kimasamu to toishi kora wa mo

大海の奥かも知らず行く我れを
いつ来まさむと問ひし子らはも

Roma-ji: Ōumi no okuka mo shirazu yuku ware o itsu kimasamu to toishi kora wa mo
English Translation: Not knowing the bounds
of the boundless ocean,
as I went away,
"When will you return to me?"
that girl asked—ah, where is she now
Meaning: As I set off, not knowing where the great sea would end, she asked me, "When will you come back to me?"—ah, that girl.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3897

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"
As he departs with no idea where the great sea ends, the poet recalls the girl who asked when he would return—a poem remembering a woman left behind. 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. It seems to look back on a parting from a woman he had come to love in Tsukushi, joining the uncertainty of the voyage to thoughts of the one he left.
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, "ōumi no": "of the great sea," modifying okuka in the next line.
Second line, "okuka mo shirazu": echoing the final line of the preceding poem, 3896, "okuka shirazu mo," it means not knowing the far bounds of the sea or the outcome of the journey.
Third line, "yuku ware o": "to me as I went away," o marking the person addressed.
Fourth line, "itsu kimasamu to": the girl's question; kimasu is an honorific form of ku ("come") and mu expresses conjecture—"when will you come?"
Fifth line, "toishi kora wa mo": kora is an affectionate term for a young woman, ra a suffix; wa mo expresses wistful recollection, closing with the lingering thought, "and that girl—how is she now?"
Source: Manyoshu
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