64. The Assistant Imperial Adviser Sada-yori: Gon Chū-nagon Sada-yori
64
THE ASSISTANT IMPERIAL ADVISER SADA-YORI
GON CHŪ-NAGON SADA-YORI
Asaborake
Uji no kawagiri
Tae-dae ni
Araware wataru
Seze no ajiro-gi.
Uji no kawagiri
Tae-dae ni
Araware wataru
Seze no ajiro-gi.
SO thickly lies the morning mist,
That I can scarcely see
The fish-nets on the river bank,
The River of Uji,
Past daybreak though it be.
The writer was the son of the author of verse No. 55; he died in the year 1004. The River Uji is in the Province of Omi, and drains into Lake Biwa. Seze is a village on the lake-side, and a suburb of the larger town of Otsu. The poet, looking across the river, can hardly make out the fish-nets on the shore at Seze, because of the rising morning mist.