classic waka stream

風速みとしまが崎を漕ぎ行けば
夕波千鳥立ち居鳴くなり
Roma-ji

Kaze hayami Toshima ga saki o kogiyukeba yūnami chidori tachii naku nari

English Translation
As the wind blows swift
rowing past Toshima Point
we make our way on,
the plovers of the evening waves
rise and settle, crying out
Meaning
As we row past Toshima Point in a swift wind, the plovers over the evening waves cry as they rise and settle again.
Commentary
Book Eleven Variant Poems 684

Rowing past Toshima Point in a strong wind, the poet hears plovers crying as they rise and settle over the evening waves. Overlaying the wind-tossed evening waves with the restless crying plovers, the poem captures a lonely winter seashore.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 270 in Book Four. Poem 270 also sings of the cries of plovers flying to and from Awaji Island, so poems on plovers stand together. The phrase yūnami chidori, plovers of the evening waves, appears in a poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro in the Man'yōshū.
The author, Akinaka, is Minamoto no Akinaka, a son of the Minister of the Right Minamoto no Akifusa, who became Head of the Council of Divinities. Among his daughters was Taikenmon'in no Horikawa.

First line, 'kaze hayami', means since the wind is swift, the stem of an adjective with the suffix mi expressing a reason.
Second line, 'Toshima ga saki o', means past Toshima Point, a place name regarded as a famous site.
Third line, 'kogiyukeba', means as we row on, the realis followed by ba.
Fourth line, 'yūnami chidori', means plovers over the evening waves. Like kayou chidori no in the second line of 270 in Book Four, it sings of plovers.
Final line, 'tachii naku nari', means they seem to cry as they rise and settle, closing with the inferential nari.
Author
Minamoto no Akinaka
Source
Kinyo Wakashu
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