Nami tateba nago no uramini yoru kai no manaki koi ni zo toshi wa henikeru

波立てば奈呉の浦廻に寄る貝の
間なき恋にぞ年は経にける

Roma-ji: Nami tateba nago no uramini yoru kai no manaki koi ni zo toshi wa henikeru
English Translation: When the waves rise high
on the shore of Nago Bay
shells keep washing in—
so in longing without pause
the years have slipped away from me.
Meaning: Like the shells that wash ashore on Nago Bay whenever the waves rise, I have spent the years in a longing that never pauses.
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4033

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "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."
The poet says that, like the shells that ceaselessly wash ashore at Nago Bay, the years have passed while he longed without pause. It seems to carry the greeting of a guest who has long wished to meet his host, Yakamochi.
Tanabe no Sakimaro was a clerk in the Office of Sake Brewing who came to Etchū as the messenger of the Minister of the Left, Tachibana no Moroe. He was a poet of the late Man'yō period, skilled at long poems in praise of the court.
According to the left note, the four poems from the preceding one through 4035 are by Sakimaro.

First line, "nami tateba": the perfective form plus "ba" expresses a constant condition, "whenever the waves rise." Picking up "nami tachi ku ya" from the preceding poem, it begins again with the same waves of Nago.
Second line, "Nago no uramini": "uramini" refers to the winding inlets of the shore. The "Sea of Nago" of the preceding poem is brought closer to the beach where the waves break.
Third line, "yoru kai no": the lines up to this point form a preface; the shells that wash in without end lead to "manaki," "without pause," in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "manaki koi ni zo": "manaki" means "unceasing." The emphatic particle "zo" forms a kakari-musubi construction with "keru" in the last line.
Last line, "toshi wa henikeru": "ni" is perfective and "keru" is the attributive form of the exclamatory "keri," closing the construction begun by "zo." The poem ends with the sigh that the years have gone by in longing.
Author: Tanabe no Sakimaro
Source: Manyoshu
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