Of Old Japan
She was thinking that he had quite forgotten— Who can it be that is coming across the barrier? |
You ask when I shall go back—it is as yet uncertain.
On the Mount |
Nagara |
My yearning is towards the |
Biwa lake |
Uchi de no Hama |
Does not lie towards |
Miyako |
The Prince read her poems and said to the page: "I am sorry to trouble you, but please go once more."
His poem:
I sought for you in the |
Osaka Yama |
But though never forgetting you
My way was lost in the trackless valley.
His second poem:
Being overwhelmed with sorrow
I wished to remain in retirement
But |
Omi no umi |
Is beyond |
Uchi de no Hama |
She wrote back only poems:
Tears which could not be restrained at the barrier
Flow towards the |
Omi no umi— |
And on the margin she wrote:
Let me try you—
My own heart also,
Come and tempt me towards the royal city.
suggestive idea. Omi is the name of the province in which are Ishiyama and Lake Biwa. Here the word is used as the homophon of meeting. Mount Nagara is near the Ishiyama Temple. Nagara is the homophon of "while being (on the mountain)."