Nago no umi ni fune shimashi kase oki ni idete nami tachi ku ya to mite kaeri komu

奈呉の海に舟しまし貸せ沖に出でて
波立ち来やと見て帰り来む

Roma-ji: Nago no umi ni fune shimashi kase oki ni idete nami tachi ku ya to mite kaeri komu
English Translation: On the Sea of Nago
lend me a boat for a while—
I will row offshore
to see if the waves rise up,
and then I will come back home.
Meaning: Lend me a boat for a little while on the Sea of Nago. I will row out to the open water, see whether the waves are rising, and then come back.
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4032

Headnote: "On the twenty-third day of the third month in spring of the twentieth year of Tenpyō, Tanabe no Sakimaro, clerk of the Office of Sake Brewing and envoy of the Minister of the Left Tachibana, was entertained at the residence of the governor Ōtomo no Yakamochi. New poems were composed there, old ones were recited, and each guest expressed his feelings."
This poem comes from a banquet held on the twenty-third day of the third month of 748, when the governor Ōtomo no Yakamochi entertained at his residence Tanabe no Sakimaro, who had come to Etchū as an envoy of the Minister of the Left, Tachibana no Moroe. Asking to borrow a boat to row out on the Sea of Nago and watch the waves rise, the guest expresses his curiosity about a sea he is seeing for the first time, and so offers his greeting to the host.
Tanabe no Sakimaro was an official of the Nara period, at this time a clerk in the Office of Sake Brewing. He traveled to Etchū as Moroe's messenger. The Man'yōshū also contains poems from the "Tanabe no Sakimaro Collection," and he is known as a poet who excelled at long poems in praise of the court.
The book opens with the banquet welcoming Sakimaro. In the final poem, 4138, Yakamochi himself borrows lodging in a village in Tonami and is shut in by spring rain, so the host who welcomes a guest at the beginning and the traveler who seeks shelter at the end form a contrast.

First line, "Nago no umi ni": the Sea of Nago is the sea of Imizu near the provincial office of Etchū, the coast running from present-day Imizu to Takaoka in Toyama. It is one of the place names most often sung by Yakamochi and his circle.
Second line, "fune shimashi kase": "shimashi" means "for a while," and "kase" is an imperative. The guest asks his host to lend him a boat for a time, and the poem pauses here after the second line.
Third line, "oki ni idete": a hypermetric line of six syllables, showing the movement of rowing out toward the open sea.
Fourth line, "nami tachi ku ya to": "ya" is an interrogative particle expressing the wish to see whether the waves are rising. The next poem, 4033, also begins with "nami tateba," so the waves of Nago link the two poems.
Last line, "mite kaeri komu": "mu" is an auxiliary of intention. The light ending, "I will see it and come back," shows the curiosity of a visiting guest.
Author: Tanabe no Sakimaro
Source: Manyoshu
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