Miwataseba kasumi no uchi mo kasumikeri keburi tanabiku shiogama no ura - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

見わたせば霞のうちも霞みけり
煙たなびく塩竈の浦

Roma-ji: Miwataseba kasumi no uchi mo kasumikeri keburi tanabiku shiogama no ura
English Translation: As I look afar,
within the haze there is yet
more haze hanging low—
where the smoke is trailing out,
the bay of Shiogama.
Meaning: As I look out, even within the haze it is hazier still: Shiogama Bay, where the smoke of the salt fires trails.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1611

Headnote: "Composed on the spirit of 'Haze on the Seashore.'"
This is the third poem of the sequence on bays of the provinces. Looking out, the poet sees that within the haze it is hazier still, because the smoke of the salt fires trails over Shiogama Bay. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic of haze on the seashore.
The author, "Ietaka Ason," was a son of Fujiwara no Mitsutaka and one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū. He studied poetry under Fujiwara no Shunzei.
Shiogama Bay lies on the coast of Mutsu Province, in present-day Shiogama, Miyagi Prefecture. It is a poetic place name sung together with the smoke of salt-burning.

The first line, "miwataseba," means "as I look out," first setting a wide view.
The second line, "kasumi no uchi mo," means "within the haze as well." With "mo," it shows layering: within the haze, still more.
The third line, "kasumikeri," means "it is hazy." "Keri" expresses exclamation at a realization, and the poem breaks here after the third line. There is wordplay in layering the noun "kasumi" of the second line and the verb "kasumi" of the third.
The fourth line, "keburi tanabiku," means "where smoke trails." Here it reveals why the haze is hazier still. It also echoes the salt-fire smoke that "trails along the mountain" in 1592 in this book.
The last line, "shiogama no ura," ends in a noun, closing on the scene of a bay in Mutsu where haze and smoke overlap.
Author: Fujiwara no Ietaka
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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