音に聞く

高師の浜の

あだ浪は

かけじや袖の

ぬれもこそすれ

ゆうしないしんのうけのきい

おとにきく

たかしのはまの

あだなみは

かけじやそでの

ぬれもこそすれ

Lady Kii

Much noise is made of the waves

That break on Takashi beach

So treacherously.

If I went near that shore

I would only wet my sleeves.

Hokusai

Lady Kii (dates uncertain), also known as Yushi Naishinnoke no Kii (Kii of Princess Yushi’s Household) or Ichi-no-Miya no Kii (Kii of the Eldest Royal Princess), was the daughter of Taira no Tsunekata and Lady KoBen. Her older brother was governor of Kii province. She served under emperor Horikawa (who reigned 1087 - 1107). Her poems were collected under the name Ichi-no-Miya no Kii Shu.

This poem was composed in reply to a poem written by Fujiwara no Teika’s grandfather, Toshitada, in which he said he longed to come to her ‘like the waves thrown by the wind against the shore of Ariso’ (ariso also meaning ‘rocky shore struck by rough waves’ and ‘probable’).

Takashi is a seaside place in the Province of Izumi, not far from Osaka, but it also means ‘high, loud, well known’ and takashio is ‘flood tide’. Kakeru means ‘to catch’ and ‘to meet’.

So the message is clear that she will not hear of his advances as she does not trust him and believes an affair would end in tears.

On Hokusai’s drawing we see a servant giving a message from a man in a palanquin to a woman in front of a background of wind driven dunes, or are these waves?