Kamusaburu taruhime no saki kogi meguri miredomo akazu ika ni ware semu

神さぶる垂姫の崎漕ぎ廻り
見れども飽かずいかに我れせむ

Roma-ji: Kamusaburu taruhime no saki kogi meguri miredomo akazu ika ni ware semu
English Translation: Round the hallowed cape,
the Cape of Taruhime,
we row on and on—
though I look, I never tire;
what am I to do?
Meaning: Rowing around the hallowed Cape of Taruhime, I look and look and never tire of it. What am I to do?
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4046

Headnote: "Poems in which each expressed his feelings while sightseeing on reaching the lagoon."
Rowing around the hallowed Cape of Taruhime, the poet says he never tires of looking and does not know what to do. Sakimaro, who had asked the day before "what sort of place is Fuse Bay," now sees the lagoon for himself and frankly admits to being captivated by its beauty.
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.
"Miredomo akazu" is a set phrase of land praise, found for example in Kakinomoto no Hitomaro's poems in praise of Yoshino, and Sakimaro, a court poet, uses that pattern to praise the lagoon of Fuse.

First line, "kamusaburu": "looking divine," "ancient and solemn," a word that honors the spiritual power of the land.
Second line, "Taruhime no saki": a cape on the lagoon of Fuse, in present-day Himi. The following poems, 4047 and 4048, also mention Taruhime, so the three are linked by the same place name.
Third line, "kogi meguri": rowing around the cape. The outing pictured in Yakamochi's "kogi tamotori" in 4037 has come true as foreseen the day before.
Fourth line, "miredomo akazu": "however much I look, I do not tire." The guest who has now seen the place confirms Yakamochi's words in 4037, "it is not a bay of which one could tire." The poem pauses after the fourth line.
Last line, "ika ni ware semu": "what am I to do," expressing a bewilderment born of deep emotion. The questioning "ika ni" of 4036 has turned here into an "ika ni" of wonder.
Author: Tanabe no Sakimaro
Source: Manyoshu
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