Kujigawa wa sakeku arimate shiobune ni makaji shiji nuki wa wa kaerikomu

久慈川は幸くあり待て潮船に
ま楫しじ貫き我は帰り来む

Roma-ji: Kujigawa wa sakeku arimate shiobune ni makaji shiji nuki wa wa kaerikomu
English Translation: River of Kuji,
stay safe and wait for me there;
on a sea-going ship
fitted thick with many oars
I shall come back home again
Meaning: River Kuji, stay safe and wait for me. On a seagoing ship fitted with many oars, I will come home again.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4368

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems of the frontier guards sent in rotation to the provinces of Tsukushi in the second month of Tenpyō Shōhō 7, year of the wood sheep."
River Kuji, stay safe and wait; on a ship with many oars I will come home: calling to the river of home, the poem vows his return. It is the sixth poem from Hitachi. Addressing the river of his home as if it were a person, it states a strong resolve to come back. Sakeku is a dialect form of sakiku.
The author, Marakobe no Suketo, was a guard from Kuji District in Hitachi; nothing more is known of him.

The first line, "Kujigawa wa," names the river flowing through his home, the one addressed.
The second line, "sakeku arimate," "stay safe and wait," personifies the river. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "shiobune ni," means "on a seagoing ship."
The fourth line, "makaji shiji nuki," "fitted thick with oars," shows a vigorous rowing home.
The closing line, "wa wa kaerikomu," with the volitional mu: I will surely come home.
Author: Marakobe no Suketo
Source: Manyoshu
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