Horie yori mio sakanoboru kaji no oto no ma naku zo Nara wa koishikarikeru

堀江より水脈さかのぼる楫の音の
間なくぞ奈良は恋しかりける

Roma-ji: Horie yori mio sakanoboru kaji no oto no ma naku zo Nara wa koishikarikeru
English Translation: Up from the Horie
against the current they row,
oars that never pause;
just so without a pause
do I long for Nara's town
Meaning: As the sound of oars rowing up the current from the Horie never pauses, so without pause I long for Nara.
Commentary: Book Twenty Miscellaneous Poems 4461

Headnote: none. Continuing the left note, this is one of three poems composed on the banks of the inlet.
As the oars rowing up the current from the Horie never pause, so without pause I long for Nara: the poem longs for the capital from Naniwa. The left note says it is the second of three poems composed on the banks of the inlet, attributed by arrangement to Ōtomo no Yakamochi. Thinking of the capital where the upstream boats are headed, he lays his longing over the unceasing sound of the oars.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, son of Ōtomo no Tabito, was at this time Junior Assistant Minister of Military Affairs.

The first line, "Horie yori," "from the Horie," takes up "rowing the Horie" of the preceding poem.
The second line, "mio sakanoboru," "going up the current," shows boats headed toward the capital.
The third line, "kaji no oto no," takes up the oar sounds; the first three lines form a preface leading to ma naku, "without pause."
The fourth line, "ma naku zo Nara wa," uses the emphatic zo, resolved by the attributive keru at the close.
The closing line, "koishikarikeru," "how I long for it," answers zo with the attributive.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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