Awaseba ya sagi to karasu to go o utaba tōshi sugashima kuroshiro no hama

合はせばや鷺と烏と碁を打たば
答志菅島黒白の浜

Roma-ji: Awaseba ya sagi to karasu to go o utaba tōshi sugashima kuroshiro no hama
English Translation: How I'd like to match them,
the heron and the crow at go,
if they were to play—
Tōshi and Sugashima,
the beaches of black and white.
Meaning: How I would love to match them—if the white heron and the black crow were to play go, using the black and white pebbles of the beaches of Tōshi and Sugashima.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1385

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the island called Tōshi in Ise there is a beach of nothing but white pebbles..."
If a white heron and a black crow were to play go, the poet would love to match them, using the white and black pebbles of Tōshi and Sugashima as stones.
Seeing the white and black pebbles as go stones, and casting a white heron and a black crow as the players, it is a fanciful poem full of humor, closing the series on white and black pebbles with the merry conceit of a go match.

First line, “awaseba ya”: baya expresses a wish, "how I'd like to match them," breaking after the first line.
Second line, “sagi to karasu to”: the white heron and the black crow.
Third line, “go o utaba”: if they were to play go.
Fourth line, “tōshi sugashima”: Tōshi of white pebbles and Sugashima of black.
Fifth line, “kuroshiro no hama”: the beaches of black and white, ending on a noun.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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