Okitsushima iyuki watarite kazuku chifu awabidama mo ga tsutsumite yaramu

沖つ島い行き渡りて潜くちふ
鰒玉もが包みて遣らむ

Roma-ji: Okitsushima iyuki watarite kazuku chifu awabidama mo ga tsutsumite yaramu
English Translation: Over to the isle
far out in the sea, they go
diving, so they say,
for abalone pearls—had I one,
I would wrap it up and send it.
Meaning: If only I had one of the abalone pearls that divers, they say, go out to the offshore island to bring up—I would wrap it and send it.
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4103

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem wishing for pearls to send to my home in the capital [with short poems]."
The poet wishes he had one of the abalone pearls that divers are said to bring up from the offshore island, so that he could wrap it and send it. Making the wish of the preceding poem more concrete, it expresses longing for the pearls taken in the sea off Noto.
Ōtomo no Yakamochi was the son of Ōtomo no Tabito, and from 746 he served as governor of Etchū. He is believed to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū, and this book has the character of a poetic diary of his years in Etchū.
The "divers of Suzu" in the long poem are the fishermen of Suzu at the tip of the Noto Peninsula; the offshore island refers to an island off Noto, and one view identifies it with Hegurajima.

First line, "okitsushima": "an island in the open sea," like the "god of the offing" in the long poem, the island where divers go down.
Second line, "iyuki watarite": "i" is a prefix adjusting the rhythm, "going across."
Third line, "kazuku chifu": "kazuku" means to dive, and "chifu" is a contraction of "to iu," "which they say they dive for," marking hearsay.
Fourth line, "awabidama mo ga": "awabidama" is a pearl formed in an abalone, and "mo ga" a particle of wishing. The poem pauses after the fourth line.
Last line, "tsutsumite yaramu": "mu" is an auxiliary of intention, "I will wrap it and send it." It is the same line that ends the long poem, and it echoes "tsutsumite yaraba" in the preceding poem.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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