Yomo no umi no nami ni tadayou mikuzu o mo nanae no ami ni hiki na morashi so - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

四方の海の波に漂ふ水屑をも
七重の網に引きな漏らしそ

Roma-ji: Yomo no umi no nami ni tadayou mikuzu o mo nanae no ami ni hiki na morashi so
English Translation: Even the flotsam
drifting on the waves of the
seas on every side,
with your sevenfold net, I pray,
draw it in, let none slip through
Meaning: Even the scraps drifting on the waves of the four seas, draw them up in your sevenfold net and let none slip through.
Commentary: Book Eleven Variant Poems 710

The poet prays that even a worthless self, like scraps drifting on the waves of the four seas, be drawn up in the sevenfold net and saved without being let slip. Seeing the sevenfold jeweled nets of the Pure Land described in the Amida Sutra as a net that gathers in all beings, the poem expresses reliance on the Buddha's salvation.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 642 in Book Ten. Poem 709 in this book also sings of mokuzu, seaweed scraps at the bottom of the sea.
The author, Toshiyori, is Minamoto no Toshiyori, a son of the Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu, who became Head of the Carpentry Office. He was the compiler of this anthology, and his personal collection is the Sanboku Kika Shū. One of his poems appears in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, 'yomo no umi no', means of the seas on every side, a line with an extra syllable. It likens this world of delusion to the sea.
Second line, 'nami ni tadayou', means drifting on the waves.
Third line, 'mikuzu o mo', means even the flotsam, a figure for the poet's worthless self. It echoes soko no mokuzu to in the second line of 709 in this book.
Fourth line, 'nanae no ami ni', means in the sevenfold net, drawing on the sevenfold jeweled nets of the Pure Land.
Final line, 'hiki na morashi so', means draw it in and let none slip, na and so forming a prohibition. Sea, waves, net and drawing in are associated words.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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