契りきな

かたみに袖を

しぼりつつ

末の松山

波越さじとは

きよはらのもとすけ

ちぎりきな

かたみにそでを

しぼりつつ

すえのまつやま

なみこさじとは

Kiyohara no Motosuke

We both made a vow to love,

While wringing out the tears

From each other’s sleeves,

Until Mount Suenomatsu

Is engulfed by waves.

Hokusai

Kiyohara no Motosuke (908 - 990), was a nobleman and waka poet; his daughter was Sei Shonagon (poem 62) famous for The Pillow Book. Kiyowara no Fukayabu (poem 36) was his grandfather. He is one of the compilers of the Gosenshu and one of theThirty-Six Immortal Poets.

作者略伝と語釈

This poem refers to an other poem in the Kokinshu (no. 1093) with the line ‘our love will last until waves engulf Mount Suenomatsu’. The original note preceding this poem in the Goshuishu said: ‘on behalf of someone whose lover has changed her mind’. Sueno is a placename but also means ‘to the very end or top’. Suenomatsuyama is a remote mountain in the far north of Honshu. There seems to be some uncertainty as to the exact location. Suenomatsuyama is a place in Miyagi (formerly part of the old province of Mutsu in the north-east, Tohoku) visited by Basho, which could be the place depicted in the above drawing. Mutsu Province was originally called 'Michi no oku' or 'Michinoku' - literally the province at the end of the land. (See also poem 14.)

What we see on Hokusai’s drawing could be the poet with his samurai friend pointing to the top of the mountain. To the very end? The mountain pointed and referred to would be farther inland and up north.

Suenomatsuyama