Lakes 水海
にほの海はみるめもおひぬ浦にてやむベかづきする海人なかりけり
| nio no umi wa mirume mo oinu ura nite ya mube kazuki suru ama nakarikeri | At the Sea of Grebes No prying eyes arise from midst the seaweed, On the beach: is that why Truly slipping beneath the waters There are no fishermen at all? |
Higo
I would like to suggest an alternative interpretation, based on viewing “oinu” as a negative, according to this grammatical analysis:
「生ふ」の未然形「おひ」＋「ず」の連体形「ぬ」＝生えていない
Perhaps it’s because
no seaweed grows on the shore
at the Sea of Grebes,
that no fishermen are there
diving to collect it.
This translation doesn’t get the “it’s only natural that …” nuance of “mube … keri” across very well, but I’ll leave it there as a first attempt.
This makes a lot of sense, I think, so I’ve revised my own translation above, too. Thanks for the insight.