高砂の

尾の上の桜

咲きにけり

外山の霞

立たずもあらなむ

ごんちゅうなごんまさふさ

たかさごの

おのえのさくら

さきにけり

とやまのかすみ

たたずもあらなん

Oe no Masafusa

On the peaks of the

Takasago mountains

Cherries are blooming.

Don’t let the mountain mist

Rise up to them now. 

Hokusai

Oe no Masafusa (1041 - 1111) (sometimes read as ‘Tadafusa’) had the title of Gonshunagon (Acting Middle Counsellor) and served emperors Shirakawa, Horikawa, and Toba. He has written several works, the Goke Shidai, Goto Tokugan Monshu, Yujoki, Kairaishiki, Rakuyo Dengakuki, Zoku Honcho Ojoden.

The Goke Shidai, The Rulebook of the Oe Family, is a great source of information, as it is a handbook on the customs and traditional ceremonial procedures at the imperial court and aristocratic families. He has also written the Godan Sho, The Oe Conversations, with anecdotes and gossip.

He has well over a hundred poems in several anthologies.

The headnote to this poem says that it was composed at the mansion of Fujiwara no Moromichi  where the poet was in company enjoying the sight of cherries on the distant mountains. Takasago can be the place in Harima province (now Hyogo) or can simply mean ‘high hills or dunes’ (see also poem 34), or, quite possibly, the mountains seen from Takasago. Some commentaries clearly state that it is not the placename Takasago that is meant. I am not so sure, unless Moromichi never had a house there.  The place is ideal for it and a trip through Harima is described in the Harima Meguri.

Hokusai puts us right in the middle of the cherries on the mountain slope.

Map showing Takasago in the Harima Meguri