Nago no umi no okitsu shiranami shikushiku ni omohoemu kamo tachiwakarenaba

奈呉の海の沖つ白波しくしくに
思ほえむかも立ち別れなば

Roma-ji: Nago no umi no okitsu shiranami shikushiku ni omohoemu kamo tachiwakarenaba
English Translation: Like the white-capped waves
out on the sea of Nago,
again and again
you will come into my mind,
once we have gone our ways
Meaning: Like the white waves rolling in again and again from the open sea of Nago, so you will keep coming to my mind once we have parted.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3989

Headnote: "Two poems from a farewell banquet for Governor Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi at the residence of Senior Clerk Hata no Imiki Yachishima"
As the white waves of the Nago sea roll in ceaselessly, so his friends will keep coming to mind once they part—a poem regretting parting at a farewell banquet. This is one of two poems in which Yakamochi expressed the sorrow of parting at a farewell banquet held on the twentieth day of the fourth month of 747 at the residence of the Senior Clerk Hata no Yachishima, as Yakamochi was about to go up to the capital as envoy bearing the tax register. Drawing into its preface the view of the Nago sea seen from Yachishima's house, it expresses his reluctance to leave his host and colleagues.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito. Appointed Governor of Etchū in 746, he spent five years there, later serving as Junior Counselor and Governor of Inaba before rising to Middle Counselor. He is thought to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū.
The left note reads, "Governor Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi was to go to the capital with the tax register; so he composed these poems to express a little of the sorrow of parting (twentieth day of the fourth month)."

First line, "Nago no umi no": the sea seen from Yachishima's residence, the same scene as "the fishermen of Nago" in 3956, which Yachishima composed at a banquet at his own house. The line is hypermetric (six morae).
Second line, "okitsu shiranami": white waves on the open sea; the upper two lines form a preface introducing shikushiku ni. Poem 3992 of this book uses the same phrase in "the white waves of the Fuse sea."
Third line, "shikushiku ni": "again and again."
Fourth line, "omohoemu kamo": "how you will come to mind"; the poem pauses here.
Fifth line, "tachiwakarenaba": "once we have parted," giving the condition afterward by inversion.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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