Nago no umi no kasumi no ma yori nagamureba iribi o arau okitsu shiranami

English Translation

Off the Nago sea
gazing out between the haze
I see the sinking
sun being washed by the waves
the white waves far out at sea

Meaning

Looking out through a break in the haze over the sea at Nago, I see the white waves offshore washing the setting sun.

Commentary

Book One Spring Poems I 35

Headnote: composed on the theme of evening haze.
Within the run on haze, this poem takes haze over the sea. The assigned topic was haze at evening.
The poet, known by his office, is Fujiwara no Sanesada (1139-1191). He rose to Minister of the Left and was called the Later Tokudaiji Minister of the Left. He was a nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei and a cousin of Teika.
The time is a spring evening; the place is the sea at Nago, a poetic site in Etchu Province also written of in the Man'yoshu.
The occasion was the set topic of evening haze.

The first two lines establish a narrow field of view: a break opened in an unbroken sheet of haze. Looking through a gap rather than over the whole makes what follows sharper.
The third line states the act of looking, and everything so far has been preparation for the lower lines.
The fourth line is the poem's whole point. The sun going down at the horizon is described as being washed by the waves. Sun and water never touch, but at that distance they overlap, and the poem puts the appearance straight into words.
The close is a noun, with an old possessive particle. Red sun and white wave are set against each other at the end.
Soft haze prepares the way and the poem ends on the movement of breaking water, and the turn from stillness to motion tightens the whole.

Author

Fujiwara no Sanesada

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other