Itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka ashi no ya ni takisusabitaru ama no moshiobi

いつもかく寂しきものか葦の屋に
焚きすさびたる海人の藻塩火

Roma-ji: Itsumo kaku sabishiki mono ka ashi no ya ni takisusabitaru ama no moshiobi
English Translation: Is it always so,
this loneliness of the scene?
In a hut of reeds,
tended idly as they please,
the fishers' salt-weed fire.
Meaning: Is it always so lonely? The salt-weed fire the fisherfolk tend idly in their hut thatched with reeds.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 696

Headnote: "Composed when I went out to the shore and saw the fisherfolk burning salt-weed"
On the shore, seeing fisherfolk burning seaweed to make salt in a reed-thatched hut, the poet wonders whether it is always so lonely, feeling for the loneliness of life by the sea. After the smoke of the people's hearths in the preceding poem, he turns to the life of the fisherfolk.
The Ruijū text lacks "burn" and "composed" in the headnote. The end of line 5 is hard to read in the source as displayed and is here read ama no moshiobi.

Line 1 means "always thus."
Line 2 means "is it so lonely?" with a break after the line.
Line 3 means "in a reed-thatched hut."
Line 4 means "burning as they please."
Line 5 means "the fisherfolk's salt-weed fire," ending on a noun; against the smoke of the people on land in the preceding poem, it shows the fire of those by the sea.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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