わびぬれば

今はた同じ

難波なる

みをつくしても

逢はむとぞ思ふ 

もとよししんのう

わびぬれば

いまはたおなじ

なにわなる

みをつくしても

あわんとぞおもう

Prince Motoyoshi

Now, in this distress,

Nothing matters anymore.

Even if I get thrown

On the stakes at Naniwa

I feel we must meet again.

Hokusai

Prince Motoyoshi (890 - 943), son of emperor Yozei (poem 13), was known for his amorous adventures. He has 20 poems in the Tales of Yamato.

作者略伝と語釈

Shown on the woodprint probably are the stakes that gauge the level of the tide in Naniwa Bay. Miotsukishi has a double meaning, ‘though my body be destroyed’ and ‘gauging stakes’.

Naniwa Bay is now called Osaka Bay. The emblem of Osaka is the miotsukushi, the ship guiding stake. Naniwa naru can also be interpreted as ‘my name becomes common’.

Miotsukushi on the Kizugawa

There is, however, an other reading based on the pivot word na (‘name’ in English) in Naniwa, meaning that the name or reputation of the lover(s) is at stake and that the lady is reluctant to meet the poet again. This poem is also present in the Gosenshu, in which it is commented that Motoyoshi had a secret affair with Fujiwara no Hoshi, wife of retired emperor Uda, and the affair came out. Prince Motoyoshi was known for his amorous adventures, as is related in The Tales of Yamato.

Murasaki Shikibu (poem 57), writer of the Genji Monogatari, there is a chapter called Miotsukushi, in which Prince Genji meets a lady in an ox-drawn carriage.

The woodcut shows an ox with a saddle on it hidden by the sheaves. So this image may refer to the Genji chapter.