Sumahito no umibe tsune sarazu yaku shio no karaki koi o mo are wa suru kamo

須磨人の海辺常去らず焼く塩の
辛き恋をも我れはするかも

Roma-ji: Sumahito no umibe tsune sarazu yaku shio no karaki koi o mo are wa suru kamo
English Translation: Like the salt the folk
of Suma burn on the shore,
never leaving it—
so bitter is the love
that I find myself in now
Meaning: Like the salt the people of Suma boil down, never leaving the seashore, how bitter is the love I suffer.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3932

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Twelve poems sent by Lady Heguri to Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi, Governor of Etchū"
Like the salt the fisherfolk of Suma boil on the shore, never leaving it, her love is bitter and painful—a poem of the agony of love. This is one of twelve poems that Lady Heguri entrusted to messengers from time to time and sent to Yakamochi, who had left the capital as Governor of Etchū. Using as preface the shore of Suma where salt-making smoke never ceases, it lays the endless pain of love over the sharpness of salt.
The poet, Lady Heguri, was a woman of the Heguri clan whose life is otherwise unknown. She was one of the women who exchanged love poems with Yakamochi.
The left note reads, "The above twelve poems were sent from time to time by passing messengers; they were not sent all at once."

First line, "Sumahito no": the fisherfolk of the bay of Suma in Settsu, a place known for salt-making.
Second line, "umibe tsune sarazu": "never leaving the shore," a hypermetric line of eight morae.
Third line, "yaku shio no": boiling seawater down for salt; the upper three lines form a preface introducing karaki.
Fourth line, "karaki koi o mo": joining the salt's bitterness to love's pain, the pivot from preface to meaning.
Fifth line, "are wa suru kamo": "that I go through," kamo voicing emotion.
Author: Lady Heguri
Source: Manyoshu
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