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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
源兼昌
淡路島
かよふ千鳥の
鳴く声に
幾夜寝覚めぬ
須磨の関守
いくよねさ
めぬすまの
せきもり
あわぢ
- Poem 78
- 淡路島
かよふ千鳥の
鳴く声に
幾夜寝覚めぬ 須磨の関守
Author: Minamoto no Kanemasa (dates unknown)
Source: Kin'yō Wakashū, Winter
- English Verse Translation
- Between Awaji and the shore The birds scream in their flight Full oft they've made the Suma
Guard Toss through a sleepless night, Until the morning light.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- The cry of the plovers flying between Awaji Island — how many nights have I lain awake listening to them at the Suma Barrier?
- Commentary
- According to the headnote in the Kin'yō Wakashū, this poem was composed on the set topic of "plovers along the checkpoint road." Suma is the setting of a famous chapter in The Tale of Genji, the place where an aging Genji, having lost his rank, withdrew into exile to escape disgrace. In the tale, Genji hears the cry of the plovers and composes a poem about the loneliness of sleeping alone — and this poem is thought to have been written with that scene from Genji in mind.
- About the Poet
- Minamoto no Kanemasa, though descended from Emperor Uda, never rose beyond the modest court rank of Junior Fifth Rank, Lower. He nonetheless made his mark as a talented poet, and his work was included in the Eikyū Hyakushu, an anthology of one hundred poems compiled by imperial command of Emperor Toba.
- Minamoto no Kanemasa's Chart of the Heart
-
A chart and a modern-language reflection of the poet's inner feelings.
The Poet's Feelings (A Personal Interpretation)
Each time I hear the plovers cry,
an old, distant story rises in my heart.The loneliness that flows through the nights of Suma
still stirs the human heart today.
- Poem Illustration
-
This image is based on an illustration from William N. Porter's A Hundred Verses from Old Japan, his 1909 English translation of the Hyakunin Isshu published in England, colorized and reworked using Adobe Firefly (generative AI).