I thought this was a cool, simple poem:

Japanese	Romanization	Translation
立ち別れ	Tachiwakare	Even if I depart
いなばの山の	Inaba no yama no	and go to Inaba Mountain,
みねにおふうる	Mine ni ōru	on whose peak grow
まつとし聞かば	Matsutoshi kikaba	pines, if I hear you pine for me,
今帰かえり来むん	Ima kaeri kon	I will return straightaway to you.

This poem is a great example of the word-play you often see in Japanese poetry of the time. The word “matsu” in the fourth line can mean a pine tree (松) or to wait (待つ), which are both applicable here. It even works in the English translation! You see this kind of thing a lot in Japanese because homonyms are so common compared to English. In particular the author is talking about the pine trees on Inaba Mountain (稲羽山) in Inaba Province as explained below.

As for the author, this was composed by Chūnagon Yukihira (中納言行平, 818-893), or “Middle Counselor Yukihira”, who was the older brother of Narihira (poem 17). Like all nobles who served in the Heian Court at the time, he was assigned to a post in a remote province for a term of service. In Yukihira’s case, he served a term as governor in Inaba Province (inaba no kuni 因幡の国), modern-day Tottori Prefecture, for two years, but this poem is his parting words at his farewell party.

The word inaba is a great example of a “pivot word” (kakekotoba, 掛け言葉) because it is both word-play and an central to the meaning of the poem. Inaba is the name of the province that Yukihira is assigned to, but it also means, according to Mostow, “(Even) if I leave”. Pretty clever.

Like many nobles of his time caught up in political intrigues, Yukihira was later exiled, and his exile along with his poetic association with pine trees became the subject of famous Nō dramas and in literature as well. According to Mostow, his exile was the inspiration behind part of the Tales of Genji.