I wrote this on a fan with a picture of a cuckoo on it, which I had sent, with other things, to the residence of a person who was going up to Michinoku around the Fifth Month.

たち別れいなばの山のほととぎすまつとつげこせかへりくるがに

tachiwakare inaba no yama no hototogisu matsu to tsugekose kaerikuru gani

Left and departed, so If you go to Inaba Mountain, O, cuckoo, Tell her that I’m pining for her, and Wish she would swiftly return…[i]

603

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[i] See: Topic unknown. 立ちわかれいなばの山の峰におふる松としきかば今かへりこむ tachiwakare / inaba no yama no / mine ni ouru / matsu to shi kikaba / ima kaerikomu ‘Left and departed— / If I go, to the mounts of Inaba / Where on the peaks, the aged / Pines; hearing you did so / I would return at once.’ Ariwara no Yukihira (Kokinshū VIII: 365)