Shiranami ni hane uchikawashi hamachidori kanashiki koe wa yoru no hitokoe

English Translation

Over the white waves
wing brushing wing they fly,
the plovers of the beach;
the cry that sounds most sorrowful
is the single cry at night

Meaning

The beach plovers fly wing to wing over the white waves, but the cry that sounds most sorrowful is the single call heard in the night.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 644

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the fourth poem of the plover sequence. The beach plovers fly wing to wing over the white waves, but what sounds sorrowful is the single cry in the night. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Shigeyuki," is Minamoto no Shigeyuki. Of the Seiwa Genji line, he is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals. In his later years he went down to Mutsu in the service of the governor Fujiwara no Sanekata and died there.
The scene is night, and the place is a beach where white waves break.
The direct occasion is not recorded.

The first line, "shiranami ni," means "over the white waves."
The second line, "hane uchikawashi," means "brushing wings together," describing plovers flying in a flock.
The third line, "hamachidori," refers to plovers that live on the beach.
The fourth line, "kanashiki koe wa," means "the cry that sounds sorrowful."
The last line, "yoru no hitokoe," closes on a noun, naming a single cry heard at night. Having shown the flock brushing wings over the waves, the poem says that what rings sorrowful is a lone cry in the darkness of night, setting the flock against the single cry. From plovers of river shallows and rivers in the poems before, it moves to plovers of the beach, and the next poem, 645, likewise sings of plovers crossing the sea.

Author

Minamoto no Shigeyuki

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other