Dawn over the Sea of Tsukushi,
Place of the Unknown Fire.
Only the moonlight—nothing else left!
THE OLD FISHERMAN.
The great waters toss and toss;
The grey waves soak the sky.
THE TWO FISHERMEN.
So was it when Han Rei[189] left the land of Etsu
And rowed in a little boat
Over the misty waves of the Five Lakes.
How pleasant the sea looks!
From the beach of Matsura
Westward we watch the hill-less dawn.
A cloud, where the moon is setting,
Floats like a boat at sea,
A boat at sea
That would anchor near us in the dawn.
Over the sea from the far side,
From China the journey of a ship’s travel
Is a single night’s sailing, they say.
And lo! the moon has vanished!
HAKU.
I have borne with the billows of a thousand miles of sea and come at last to the land of Nippon. Here is a little ship anchored near me. An old fisherman is in it. Can this be indeed an inhabitant of Nippon?
OLD FISHERMAN.
Aye, so it is. I am an old fisher of Nihon. And your Honour, I think, is Haku Rakuten, of China.