Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
淡路島
Minamoto no Kanemasa · 源兼昌
淡路島
かよふ千鳥の
鳴く声に
いくよ寝覚めぬ
須磨の関守
Historical kana
あはぢしま
かよふちどりの
なくこゑに
いくよねざめぬ
すまのせきもり
Original English translation
At the cries of plovers passing from Awaji Island, how many nights has the keeper of Suma’s barrier awakened?
History and context
Suma was a poetic place associated with coastal solitude and exile. Kanemasa’s Kin’yōshū winter poem creates the imagined perspective of a watchman hearing birds across the sea.
Imagery and wordplay
The repeated cry interrupts sleep. A question about countless nights stretches the scene beyond one evening.
Kin’yōshū · 金葉集冬288
Japanese text and historical kana follow the linked Wikisource transcription. Classical poems can have variant spellings and wording in different anthologies. The source anthology reference identifies the version represented in this collection, not necessarily its earliest surviving text. English prose translations and reading notes are original interpretations; some wordplay permits more than one reading.