見せばやな

雄島の海女の

袖だにも

濡れにぞ濡れし

色は変はらず

いんぷもんいんのたいふ

みせばやな

おじまのあまの

そでだにも

ぬれにぞぬれし

いろはかわらず

Attendant to Empress Inpu

Let me show him these!

On Ojima Isle

Even the sleeves of ama,

Though wet as wet can be,

Do not lose colour like this.

Hokusai

Inpu Monin no Taifu (dates unknown) was a daughter of Fujiwara no Nobunari and was an attendant to princess Ryoshi Inpu Monin, daughter of emperor GoShirakawa. She has sixty-three poems in imperial collections.

According to the headnote this poem was composed on the theme of love for a poetry contest and it refers to an at her time ancient poem by Shigeyuki (poet 48) in the GoShuishu.

松島や小島の磯にあさりせしあまの袖社かくはぬれしか

   Matsushima!

   On the shores of Ojima

   The sleeves of ama

   Collecting clams

   Must be soaked like mine.

The meaning of this poem is that the poet would like Shigeyuki to see her sleeves which are wet and discoloured from tears, iro here meaning ‘colour’ and ‘sensuality’.

Ama divers or fishers (in this case not divers but clamdiggers) were traditionally women, like Hokusai depicted them above with their baskets, so it is only natural to understand this poem as the poet’s comparison of her sleeves with other women’s sleeves.

Matsushima (on the mainland) and Ojima are famous beauty spots, and Basho extolled their beauty.