Awajishima seto no shiohi no yūgure ni Suma yori kayou chidori naku nari

淡路島瀬戸の潮干の夕暮れに
須磨より通ふ千鳥鳴くなり

Roma-ji: Awajishima seto no shiohi no yūgure ni Suma yori kayou chidori naku nari
English Translation: Off Awaji Isle
at the ebbing of the strait
in the evening dusk,
flying over from Suma
I hear the plovers crying.
Meaning: At dusk, when the tide has ebbed in the strait off Awaji Island, I hear the plovers crying as they fly across from Suma.
Commentary: Winter Poems 549

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Plovers"
This is the second of five poems on plovers. At dusk, when the tide has ebbed in the strait off Awaji Island, the cries of plovers flying across the sea from Suma on the far shore can be heard. Linking the facing places of Awaji and Suma, the poem catches the voices of plovers crossing the sea.
Where Minamoto no Kanemasa's poem heard, from the Suma side, the plovers flying to and from Awaji, this poem hears the plovers coming from Suma as if from the Awaji side, reversing the composition of the precedent. It shares its first line with the preceding poem and its last line with 552.

First line, “Awajishima”: the same first line as the preceding poem, naming Awaji Island.
Second line, “seto no shiohi no”: shiohi is the ebbing of the tide, the strait off Awaji at low tide.
Third line, “yūgure ni”: at dusk, marking the time.
Fourth line, “Suma yori kayou”: Suma is a place in Settsu, a shore facing Awaji sung of in poetry; the plovers come from there.
Fifth line, “chidori naku nari”: nari is the auxiliary of inference from sound, I hear them crying; it is the same last line as 552.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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