Akashigata urajihareyuku asanagini kirinikogiiru amanotsuribune

English Translation

At Akashi bay
the shore road is clearing now
in the morning calm,
and rowing into the mist
goes a fisherman's small boat

Meaning

In the morning calm the shore road at Akashi is clearing, and a fisherman's boat rows away into the mist.

Commentary

Book One: Odoro no Shita

Go-Toba, the eighty-second sovereign, was the fourth son of Takakura. After the Taira fled west with the child emperor Antoku, the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa summoned his grandsons to look at them; the third prince wept and would not go near him, but the fourth prince climbed at once onto his knee and seemed fond of him, so the Cloistered Emperor exclaimed that here was a true grandson, and in the eighth month of Juei 2 set him on the throne at the age of four. The sacred sword had gone down into the sea with the former emperor, so that for the first time an accession took place without the three regalia. After the Cloistered Emperor's death Go-Toba ruled in his own right; the realm was at peace and the way of poetry flourished. In Kenkyu 9, at nineteen, he abdicated to Tsuchimikado and began his cloistered rule, building a villa at Minase where he spent himself on the pleasures of the seasons. He held the poetry contest in fifteen hundred rounds, established the Bureau of Poetry, had the Shinkokinshu compiled, and held its celebratory banquet in Genkyu 2. In Jogen 4 he set Tsuchimikado aside and raised Juntoku to the throne, and Juntoku too gave himself to poetry. At Minase the retired emperor played go and small archery, explained the old precedent of the stakes, and had a guardsman prepare the dish described by Murasaki Shikibu—in everything he showed the range of his gifts. At the selected poetry contest of Kempo 2, Fujiwara no Hideyoshi of the Northern Guard was called on for nine poems; the Yoshimizu bishop Jien offered the retired emperor a long poem, and Teika wrote a long poem in reply on the spot. The new retired emperor Tsuchimikado composed a hundred poems privately, showed them to Ietaka and Teika, and exchanged poems with Teika.
Go-Toba's personal name was Takahira; he was the fourth son of Takakura, and his mother was Shichijoin, daughter of Nobutaka, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. Tsuchimikado's personal name was Tamehito, and his mother was Shomeimon'in, daughter of the priest Noen and adopted daughter of the Inner Minister Michichika. Juntoku's personal name was Morinari, and his mother was Shumeimon'in. The regent Kujo Yoshitsune was called a saint of poetry, and the compilers of the Shinkokinshu were Michitomo, Ariie, Teika, Ietaka and Masatsune. The Middle Counselor Kanemitsu, Fujiwara no Kanemitsu, and the Middle Counselor Sukezane, Fujiwara no Sukezane, were each called on for screen poems at an accession thanksgiving. Kunaikyo was descended from Emperor Murakami through the Minister of the Left Toshifusa, and was the daughter of a man who died holding only the fourth rank. Fujiwara no Hideyoshi served in the retired emperor's Northern Guard, and the Yoshimizu bishop Jien was a poet-monk who long held the office of Tendai abbot.
The retired emperor would go to the Minase villa and give himself to flute and koto and to the blossoms and autumn leaves of the season; at go he would summon the young courtiers and set them competing at small archery and backgammon, and he explained the old precedent governing the stakes. Once, sitting in the fishing pavilion with iced water before him, he said that someone should prepare on the spot the dish Murasaki Shikibu had described; a guardsman spread a little bamboo grass from the edge of the pond and washed white rice on it, and the retired emperor took off his robe and gave it to him. In everything he was thorough and exact.
The selected poetry contest, polished past measure, was also held at the Minase villa, judged by general discussion on the spot. Around the ninth month of Kempo 2 only the finest pieces were drawn out, and in the seventh round this was the retired emperor's poem on the left.
On the right against it stood the poem of Fujiwara no Hideyoshi of the Northern Guard, and it is said that to have been placed on the retired emperor's side was for him an honour to last a lifetime.

Akashi bay is a poetic place name of Harima, and the sound of brightening within the name carries naturally into the clearing and the morning calm that follow. The second line shows the mist lifting along the shore road, an opening of the view. The third fixes time and place in the windless morning sea. Everything so far moves toward clearing, and the fourth line reverses it: the boat rows into the mist. Clearing and mist, opening and closing, cross within the one poem. The close rests on a noun, leaving the shape of the boat without finishing the sentence. A small craft vanishing from a clearing bay into fog holds brightness and concealment at once, and it is easy to see why the judges placed it on the left of the seventh round.

Author

Go-Toba In

Source

Masukagami

Other