Kinkai wakashū 700

On seeing the salt fires of fisherfolk, when I had gone out to the beach.

いつもかくさびしきものかあしのやに焼きすさびたるあまのもしほ火

itsumo kaku
sabishiki mono ka
ashi no ya ni
keburi susabitaru
ama no moshiobi
Are they always such
Lonely things?
Above the roofs of reeds
Thin trails of smoke
From fishers’ seaweed salt fires…[i]

700


[i] See: いつもかくさびしきものかつの国のあし屋の里の秋の夕暮 itsumo kaku / sabishiki mono ka / tsu no kuni no / ashiya no sato no / aki no yūgure ‘Are they always such / Lonely things? / In the land of Tsu, / Reed-roofed villages / On an autumn evening…’ Ietaka (Rōnyaku gojusshu uta’awase 497)

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