"Umi Yukaba" (海行かば) is a Japanese song whose lyrics are based on a chōka poem by Ōtomo no Yakamochi in the Man'yōshū (poem 4094), an eighth century anthology of Japanese poetry, set to music by Kiyoshi Nobutoki.
History
The poem is part of Ōtomo no Yakamochi's famous long poem celebrating the imperial edict on the discovery of gold in Michinoku province (modern Tohoku) in 749. The distant ancestors of the Ōtomo clan were known as masters of the royal Kume guard.[1]
The poem reflects their pledge to serve their sovereign.
^idealjapan (16 November 2010). "第五十九回掃海殉職者追悼式 Video 07 海行かば". Archived from the original on 15 December 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2018 – via YouTube.