Practise the thinking. Keep the judgement.
大江山
Koshikibu no Naishi · 小式部内侍
大江山
いくのの道の
遠ければ
まだふみも見ず
天の橋立
Historical kana
おほえやま
いくののみちの
とほければ
まだふみもみず
あまのはしだて
Original English translation
Ōe Mountain and the road through Ikuno are far away; I have neither walked there nor seen a letter from Amanohashidate.
History and context
Koshikibu was Izumi Shikibu’s daughter. The Kin’yōshū headnote relates a witty reply to a suggestion that she depended on her mother, then away in Tango, to compose poems.
Imagery and wordplay
Fumi means both a letter and treading a path. Geography supplies the evidence for her independent authorship.
Kin’yōshū · 金葉集雑上586
Japanese text and historical kana follow the linked Wikisource transcription. Classical poems can have variant spellings and wording in different anthologies. The source anthology reference identifies the version represented in this collection, not necessarily its earliest surviving text. English prose translations and reading notes are original interpretations; some wordplay permits more than one reading.