Okitsunami Uchide no hama no hamahisagi shiorete nomi ya toshi o henuramu

沖つ波打出の浜の浜久木
しをれてのみや年を経ぬらむ

Roma-ji: Okitsunami Uchide no hama no hamahisagi shiorete nomi ya toshi o henuramu
English Translation: Waves from off the shore—
like the hisagi trees that grow
at Uchide's beach,
drenched and drooping only,
have I let the years go by?
Meaning: Like the hisagi trees on the beach at Uchide, drenched by the waves rolling in from the open sea, have I spent the years only drooping in tears?
Commentary: Love Poems 489

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the theme of love at famous places"
Like the hisagi trees on Uchide beach drooping wet with the spray of waves from the open sea, the poet laments that he may have passed the years drooping wet with tears.
According to the notes in the base text, the Teika text reads line 2 as uchide no hama no, and the Ruijū and Teika texts differ in line 5. Here uchide no hama no is adopted.

Line 1, okitsunami, "waves of the open sea," leads to uchi through waves striking.
Line 2 names the beach of Uchide in Ōmi, playing on waves striking out and the place name.
Line 3 names the hisagi trees of the beach, with an extra syllable.
Line 4 means "only drooping wet," ya binding ramu in line 5.
Line 5 means "have I passed the years?" After the dew on clover of the preceding poem, wet plants are again laid over tears.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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