The second poem in our series devoted to Valentine’s Day is this one:

Japanese	Romanization	Translation
筑波嶺の	Tsukubane no	Like the Mina River
みねより落つる	Mine yori otsuru	that falls from the peak
みなの川	Minano-gawa	of Mount Tsukuba
恋ぞつもりて	Koi zo tsumorite	so my longing has collected
淵となりぬる	Fuchi to naru nuru	and turned into deep pools.

The poem was composed by Yōzei-in (陽成院, 868 – 949), known in English as Emperor Yōzei. According to commentaries, the poem was intended for “the princess of Tsuridono” who was Emperor Kōkō’s daughter. Sadly, Emperor Yōzei is better known for his severe mental instability in later years, and his other poetry was seldom never published.

Nevertheless, the analogy of Mount Tsukuba, pictured above, was an excellent choice. The mountain is famous in Japanese culture, especially for the two peaks: one called nantai (男体, “Man”) on the western side, and nyotai (女体, “Woman”) on the eastern side. It was a frequent topic used in love poetry back in the day. Even today, it is a very popular destination for tourists and nature lovers.