Iseshima ya Ichishi no ama no sutegoromo au koto nami ni kuchi ya hatenamu

伊勢島や一志の海人の捨て衣
逢ふことなみに朽ちや果てなむ

Roma-ji: Iseshima ya Ichishi no ama no sutegoromo au koto nami ni kuchi ya hatenamu
English Translation: Ise's isles—
like the robe a fisher cast away
at Ichishi's shore,
with no meeting, in the waves,
shall I rot away at last?
Meaning: Like the robe a fisher cast off on the shore of Ichishi in Ise, rotting in the waves, shall I wither away with never a meeting?
Commentary: Love Poems 470

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the theme of love at famous places"
As a robe cast off by a fisher on the shore of Ichishi in Ise rots in the waves, so the poet laments he may waste away without ever meeting his beloved.
The Ruijū text titles it "Love by the seashore." Kamo no Mabuchi called au koto nami ni in line 4 a worn expression.

Line 1 means "O isles of Ise," ya being exclamatory.
Line 2 means "of the fishers of Ichishi" in Ise.
Line 3 names a cast-off robe, suggesting a person left unregarded.
Line 4 plays on nami, "since there is not" and "waves": no meeting, in the waves.
Line 5: ya binds the attributive mu; the robe rotting in the waves and the poet wasting in love overlap.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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