Chigiriki na
Katami-ni sode wo
Shibori-tsutsu
Sue no Matsu-yama
Nami kosaji to wa.
MOTO-SUKE KIYOWARA
Our sleeves, all wet with tears, attest
That you and I agree
That to each other we’ll be true,
Till Pine-tree Hill shall be
Sunk far beneath the sea.
Moto-suke lived towards the close of the tenth century, and was the son of the writer of verse No. 36. The idea of one’s sleeves being wet with tears is a common one in Japanese poetry. Matsu-yama, or Pine-tree Hill, is in Northern Japan, on the boundaries between the Provinces of Rikuchū and Nambu. In the illustration the hill with the pine tree on the top appears to be just sinking beneath the waves.
