Kinkai wakashū 695

Composed on seeing an aged pine on the rocky shore while on the road to a place called Misaki.[i]

いその松いくひささにか成りぬらんいたく木高き風のおとかな

iso no matsu
ikuhisasa ni ka
narinuran
itaku kodakaki
kaze no oto kana
The pine tree on the rocky shore
Has for how many eternities
Endured?
The tree, so very high, as is
The sound of the wind!

695


[i] Misaki 三崎 lies on the Miura Peninsula 三浦半島 on the far eastern side of Sagami Bay. Sanetomo is known to have visited Misaki in the Third Month, Kenryaku 2 [April 1212] and this poem was probably composed then.

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