If only the world
would always remain this way –
some fishermen
drawing a little rowboat
up the river bank.

~ Minamoto No Sanetomo

Minamoto No Sanetomo (1192 – 1219) was an accomplished waka poet. He was the third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate who reigned from 1203 to this death in 1219. In this waka poem, he evokes a scene of quiet beauty on the river bank where fishermen would set off to sea.