大江山

いく野の道の

遠ければ

まだふみも見ず

天の橋立

こしきぶのないし

おおえやま

いくののみちの

とければ

まだふみもみず

あまのはしだて

Lady Koshikibu

Oe Mountain

And the road to Iku Plain

Being far away,

I haven’t seen anything yet

At or from the Bridge to Heaven.

Hokusai

Koshikibu no Naishi (999 - 1025), was the daughter of Izumi Shikibu (poem 56) and Tachibana no Michisada. She died very young. Like her mother she was a lady-in-waiting to Empress Shoshi. There are four poems known of her.

From Pictures of the Heart - Yoshua Mostow:

“Sadayori (poem 64) taunts KoShikibu that she will have to ask for her mother’s help [residing in Tango] to write her poems for the competition. In response, KoShikibu delivers a devastating impromptu poem that includes the names of three places in Tango (in geographical order, no less), two puns (the iku of Ikuno means ‘to go’, while fumi means both ‘to step’ and ‘letter’), and word association between fumi ‘to step’ and the ‘bridge’ (hashi) of Ama-no-Hashidate. This was a popular story in Teika’s day and was recounted in both the Toshiyori Zuinou and the Fukuro-Zoushi, both of which claim that KoShikibu literally pulled at the sleeve of Sadayori’s robe to stip him and that, unable to think of a reponse, he fled.”

Amanohashidate, Bridge to Heaven

Panorama with Amanohashidate in the middle and Mount Oe on the right in the background.

On Hokusai’s drawing several sites can be seen, the Amanohashidate viewed from the Sakura Hills, and the Monju temple (now Chionji, with the tomb of Izumi Shikibu). The inscription on the stone reads ‘Monju Bosatsu Anchi’ (Shrine of the Manjusri Bodhisattva).