Tosa Diary. Ki No Tsurayuki

with my pole

       Bottom is there none; and thus

       Like the Sea-God's realm,

       Bottomless my loving heart,

       When I think we now must part.

      The steersman,¹⁰ who had himself been freely eating and drinking sake while all this was going on, now remorselessly said they must get away at once; for the tide was full, and he feared the wind might blow and they would have a rough tossing in the ship. Just about this time several others wrote appropriate verses; they were Chinese poems and I have no doubt they were worthy of the occasion; a certain personage' also sang a song of the East,¹¹—though he was still in the Land of the West. While these verses were being sung, we are told, even the dust in the cabin began to blow about and the clouds to scud across the sky! That evening a stop was made at Urato, to which spot Fujiwara no Tokisané and Tachibana no Suehira followed.¹²

      4 FEB. 28th day.—They set out rowing from Urato and made for Ōminato, where Yamaguchi no Chiminé, the son of a former Governor, came with sake and good things to eat, which he put aboard the boat. There will be plenty to eat and drink during the voyage!

      5 FEB. 29th day.—They remained at Ōminato, and the Doctor paid a visit, in order to present some spiced sake and byakusan appropriate to the season, as well as ordinary saké;¹³ this he did from pure kindness of heart.