Ōeyama Ikuno no michi no tōkereba mada fumi mo mizu Ama no Hashidate - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

大江山いくのの道の遠ければ
まだふみも見ず天の橋立

Roma-ji: Ōeyama Ikuno no michi no tōkereba mada fumi mo mizu Ama no Hashidate
English Translation: Over Ōe's hills,
by the road through Ikuno,
so far is the way
that I have yet to set foot
or see word from Hashidate
Meaning: The road that crosses Mount Ōe and passes through Ikuno is so long that I have never yet set foot on Ama no Hashidate, nor seen any letter from there.
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 550

The road to Tango, over Mount Ōe and through Ikuno, is so long, the poet says, that she has never set foot on Ama no Hashidate, nor seen a letter from her mother in Tango. When her mother Izumi Shikibu had gone down to Tango with her husband Fujiwara no Yasumasa, and the poet, summoned to a poetry contest in the capital, was teased that she must have asked her mother to compose for her, she is said to have replied on the spot with this poem. A celebrated poem that uses pivot words deftly to retort with wit that she has borrowed no help from her mother.
Some manuscripts have a headnote saying that while Izumi Shikibu was in Tango, Fujiwara no Sadayori came to the poet, who had been chosen as a contestant, teasing her by asking whether she had sent a messenger to Tango and whether the messenger had not returned, and that she held him back as he made to leave and composed this poem. It is also included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The author, Koshikibu no Naishi, was the daughter of Izumi Shikibu and Tachibana no Michisada, and served with her mother in the household of Jōtōmon'in Shōshi. She died young, before her mother.

First line, 'Ōeyama', names Mount Ōe in Tanba, on the road from the capital to Tango.
Second line, 'Ikuno no michi no', is a pivot in which ikuno means both the place Ikuno in Tanba and iku, to go, left in kana.
Third line, 'tōkereba', means because it is far, the realis of the adjective followed by ba giving the reason.
Fourth line, 'mada fumi mo mizu', is a pivot in which fumi means both stepping on the ground and a letter, left in kana. Fumi as stepping is a related word to michi, road, in the second line.
Final line, 'Ama no Hashidate', is a famous place in Tango, closing on a noun. Hashi, bridge, is a related word to fumi in the fourth line.
Author: Koshikibu no Naishi
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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