Koshi no umi no Shinanu no hama o yukikurashi nagaki haruhi mo wasurete omoe ya

越の海の信濃の浜を行き暮らし
長き春日も忘れて思へや

Roma-ji: Koshi no umi no Shinanu no hama o yukikurashi nagaki haruhi mo wasurete omoe ya
English Translation: Along the strand
of Shinanu by Koshi's sea
I walk the day out—
yet in the long spring daylight
could I think, and so forget
Meaning: Even as I spend the long spring day walking the beach of Shinanu by the sea of Koshi, could I ever forget the capital? Never.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 4020

Headnote: none (continuing from the preceding poem; there is no title; the left note reads, "The above four poems: twenty-ninth day of the first month, spring, of the twentieth year of Tenpyō, Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi")
Even walking all the long spring day along the beach of Shinanu by the sea of Koshi, could he ever forget the capital?—a poem of homesickness. This is one of four poems Yakamochi composed in Etchū on the twenty-ninth day of the first month of 748. Closing the four, it speaks of a longing for the capital that even seaside rambles cannot assuage.
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 name Shinanu in the second line carries an original note, "It is the name of a beach," showing it refers not to the province of Shinano but to a beach on the coast of Koshi.

First line, "Koshi no umi no": the sea of Etchū; the line is hypermetric (six morae). The poem mourning Fumimochi, 3959, also sings of "the waves on the rough rocks of the sea of Koshi."
Second line, "Shinanu no hama o": Shinanu is, according to the original note, the name of a beach; its location is unknown.
Third line, "yukikurashi": "walking until the day grows dark."
Fourth line, "nagaki haruhi mo": "even through a long spring day."
Fifth line, "wasurete omoe ya": ya is rhetorical—"could I think and forget? never," closing firmly on his longing for the capital.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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