Katakai no kawa no se kiyoku yuku mizu no tayuru koto naku arigayoi mimu

片貝の川の瀬清く行く水の
絶ゆることなくあり通ひ見む

Roma-ji: Katakai no kawa no se kiyoku yuku mizu no tayuru koto naku arigayoi mimu
English Translation: Like the waters that flow
with their shallows running clear
in Katakai's stream,
never ceasing, ever on,
I shall keep coming to see
Meaning: Like the water flowing pure through the shallows of the Katakai River, never ceasing, so I shall keep coming back to see this mountain.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 4002

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A rhapsody on Mount Tachiyama, with tanka (this mountain is in Niikawa District)"—envoy
As the clear water of the Katakai flows without ceasing, so he will keep coming to see the mountain—a poem of praise and a vow to return. This is an envoy to the chōka in praise of Mount Tachiyama that Yakamochi composed on the twenty-seventh day of the fourth month of 747 before going up to the capital, one of the Three Rhapsodies of Etchū. The chōka says that, though the land of Koshi has many mountains and rivers, on Tachiyama in Niikawa, ruled by its sovereign god, snow lies even through summer; that his thoughts will never fade, like the mists rising morning and evening over the clear shallows of the Katakai River at its foot; and that he will keep coming year after year to gaze on it and tell even those who have never seen it, as a tale for ten thousand ages. Over the clear stream of the Katakai flowing at the mountain's foot he lays his unchanging admiration.
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, "Twenty-seventh day of the fourth month, composed by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi."

First line, "Katakai no": the Katakai River, flowing through present-day Uozu, Toyama. In the chōka it is sung as the river Tachiyama wears like a sash.
Second line, "kawa no se kiyoku": "the river's shallows running clear."
Third line, "yuku mizu no": "like flowing water"; the upper three lines form a preface introducing "never ceasing."
Fourth line, "tayuru koto naku": "without ceasing." Ikenushi's 4005 answers this line with "as the Katakai River never ceases."
Fifth line, "arigayoi mimu": "I shall keep coming to see," following, like "arigayoi" in 3992, the closing pattern of poems in praise of a land.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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