I had already enjoyed innumerable splendid views of rivers and mountains, ocean and land; now I set my heart on seeing Kisakata. It was a journey of ten leagues northeast from Sakata across mountains and along sandy beaches. A wind from the seas stirred the white sand early in the afternoon, and Mount Chokai disappeared behind misting rain. "Groping in the dark," we found " the view in the rain exceptional too."* The surroundings promised to be beautiful once the skies had cleared. We crawled into a fisherman's thatched shanty to await the end of the rain.

The day was fine, and we launched forth onto the bay in a boat as the bright morning sun rose. First of all, we went to Noinjima to visit the spot where Saigyo had lived in seclusion for three years. Then we disembarked on the opposite shore and saw a memento of the poet, the old cherry tree that had suggested the verse,"rowing over flowers."* Near the water's edge, we noticed a tomb that was said to be the grave of Empress Jingu, together with a temple, Kanmanjuji. I had never heard that the Empress had gone to that place. I wonder how her grave happened to be there.

Seated in the temple's front apartment with the blinds raised, we commanded a panoramic view. To the south, Mount Chokai propped up the sky, its image reflected in the bay; to the west, Muyamuya Barrier blocked the road; to the east, the Akita Road stretched far into the distance on an embankment; to the north, there loomed the majestic bulk of the sea, its waves entering the bay at a place called Shiogoshi.

The bay measures about a league in length and breadth. It resembles Matsushima in appearance but has a quality of its own: where Matsushima seems to smile, Kisakata droops in dejection. The lonely, melancholy scene suggests a troubled human spirit.

 kisakata ya               Xi Shi's drooping eyelids:
 ame ni sei shi ga       mimosa in falling rain
 nebu no hana              at Kisakata.

 shiogoshi ya              At Shiogoshi
 tsuruhagi nurete     crane legs drenched by high tide -
 umi suzushi               and how cool the sea!*


A festival:

 kisakata ya           A shrine festival:
  ryori nani kuu     what foods do worshippers eat
   kamimatsuri          At Kisakata?
      --Sora                 --Sora

  ama no ya ya         At fishers' houses
   toita o shikite     people lay down rain shutters,
    yusuzumi            seeking evening cool.
      --Teiji                 --Teiji, a Mino merchant


Seeing an osprey nest on a rock:

 nami koenu                Might they have vowed,
   chigiri arite ya   "Never shall waves cross here" -
    misago no su          those nesting ospreys?*
     --Sora                      --Sora