今はただ

思ひ絶えなむ

とばかりを

人づてならで

言ふよしもがな   

さきょうのだいぶのみちまさ

いまはただ

おもいたえなん

とばかりを

ひとずてならで

いうよしもがな

Fujiwara no Michimasa

It is my only wish now

To put an end to all this

In such manner that at least

I can take my leave

By speaking to you properly.

Hokusai

Fujiwara no Michimasa (992 - 1054) or Sakyo no Daibu no Michimasa (the first part being his title), was the son of Korechika. Six poems are known by him.

The note to this poem mentions that he was secretly meeting the former Ise priestess Toshi,   princess Masako, daughter of emperor Sanjo (poem 68), and that the court prevented these visits. This story is also mentioned in the Eiga Monogatari (Tale of Flowering Fortunes) and the Fukuro-Zoshi.

Omoi taenan can mean ‘give up enduring’ or ‘die of love’. The Ise shrine had for centuries an imperial princess as its head priestess, who had to remain celibate.

Hokusai follows the above story and on his drawing we see guards blocking the entrance to the shrine for the poet and his retinue.