Yūzukuyo mitsu shioai no kata o nami nami ni shiorete naku chidori kana

夕月夜満つ潮合ひの潟を無み
波にしをれて鳴く千鳥かな

Roma-ji: Yūzukuyo mitsu shioai no kata o nami nami ni shiorete naku chidori kana
English Translation: Under evening moon,
as the tide comes rising in
and the flats are gone,
drenched and drooping in the waves,
how the plovers cry!
Meaning: On a night of the evening moon, as the tide rises and the flats disappear, the plovers, drenched and drooping in the waves, cry out—how pitiful they are!
Commentary: Winter Poems 353

Headnote: "On an occasion when I had many people compose on the theme of plovers by the sea"
This poem was composed by the poet himself on an occasion when he had many people compose on the theme of plovers by the sea. On a night of the evening moon, the tide rises and the flats vanish, and the plovers cry, drenched and drooping in the waves. He takes pity on the plovers that have lost their place to rest.
The poem uses kata o nami, "as the flats are gone," from the Man'yōshū poem by Yamabe no Akahito in which cranes fly crying toward the reeds when the tide fills the bay of Waka, moving the same image of birds that lose their flats to the rising tide from cranes to plovers. The Ruijū text gives the headnote as "On plovers by the shore … on an occasion when they composed." The Teika text gives line 4 as namida shiorete.

Line 1 is the same as that of 351.
Line 2 means "as the tide comes rising."
Line 3 uses o … mi to show cause, "as there are no flats," the same line as in Akahito's poem.
Line 4 is the same as line 4 of the preceding poem, so two poems in a row sing plovers drooping in the waves.
Line 5: kana is exclamatory, closing the poem with pity for the plovers.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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