This is one of my most favorite poems in the Hyakunin Isshu due to its backstory and its clever delivery and was composed by the daughter of Lady Izumi:
| Japanese | Romanization | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| 大江山 | Ōeyama | Ōe Mountain and |
| いく野の道の | Ikuno no michi no | the road that goes to Ikumo |
| 遠ければ | Tō kereba | are far away, and so |
| まだふみも見ず | Mada fumi mo mizu | not yet have I trod there, nor letter seen, |
| 天の橋立 | Ama no Hashidate | from Ama-no-Hashidate |
This poem was composed by Ko-Shikibu no Naishi (小式部内侍, 1000? – 1025), daughter of Lady Izumi (poem 56). She too was a handmaiden of Empress Shoshi like her mother. The “ko” in her name implies a “junior” lady-in-waiting (shikibu) compared to her mother.
Sadly, she died in her 20’s, leaving her mother behind with a granddaughter to care for, and for such a talented poet, she has only a handful of poems in official anthologies.
According to the backstory of this poem, Lady Izumi was away in the province of Tango with her (current) husband, and there was a poetry contest in the capital. Ko-Shikubu, age 15, was selected to represent her mother. Middle Counselor Sadayori (poem 64) teases her saying:
What will you do about the poems? Have you sent someone off to Tango [to ask your mother for help]? Hasn’t the messenger come back? My, you must be worried.
trans. Joshua Mostow
To which the young and bold Ko-Shikibu pulled at Sadayori’s sleeve and composed this poetic reply off-the-cuff. While less obvious in English, the poem is a master piece because it recites three places in Tango in geographic order, has two puns (iku in Ikuno also means to go 行く, and fumi means both a letter 文 and to step 踏み) and the bridge mentioned, Ama-no-Hashidate, is associated with “stepping” too.
As the story goes, Sadayori was totally speechless and couldn’t come back with a good reply, so he ran off. My new book implies that they evidentially fell in love later like a modern romcom.
Think of this exchange as an 11th century Japanese rap-battle, and Ko-Shikibu trashed her opponent. Well done! 👏🏼👏🏼
P.S. Featured photo is “Travelers on a mountain path along the coast”, by Utagawa Hiroshige, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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The Hyakunin Isshu 
Awesome. Thanks for the context, without which, this would’ve been just another lovely-sounding poem.
Ha ha ha, I know how you feel. Sometimes things get lost in 1,000 years worth of language, culture and translation issues. The imperial anthologies were often useful because they had head notes for each poem ( since they were often compiled centuries later). Helps us latecomers too. 🙂