Hyakunin Isshu: Meet the Poets
Minamoto no Kanemasa

Meaning

The cry of the plovers flying between Awaji Island — how many nights have I lain awake listening to them at the Suma Barrier?

Commentary

The plovers (chidori) flying between Suma on the mainland and Awaji Island, crying through the night, repeatedly wake the solitary barrier guard. The scene is one of desolate beauty: darkness, sea-wind, the plaintive cry of birds, and a lone man waking again and again. Suma was famous as the setting for part of The Tale of Genji.

Very little is known about Minamoto no Kanemasa. His poem is valued almost entirely for this single image: the plover's cry in the night, the isolated watchman at Suma. It became one of the canonical images of autumnal coastal loneliness in Japanese poetry, and had considerable influence on Noh drama.

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