We could see Shirane's peaks behind us as we trudged toward Yamanaka Hot Springs. The Kannon Hall stood at the base of the mountains to the left. Someone said the hall was founded by Retired Emperor Kazan, who enshrined an image of the bodhisattva there and named the spot Nata after completinga pious round of the Thirty-three Places. (The name Nata was explained to us as having been coined from Nachi and Tanigumi.) It was a beautiful, impressive site, with many unusual rocks, rows of ancient pine trees, and a small thatched chapel, built on a rock against the cliff.

 ishiyama no                 Even whiter
 ishi yori shiroshi        than the Ishiyama rocks -
 aki no kaze                 the wind of autumn.

We bathed in the hot springs, which were said to be second only to Ariake in efficacy.

 yamanaka ya                At Yamanaka,
 kiku wa taoranu      no need to pluck chrysanthemums:
 yu no nioi               the scent of the springs.

The master was a youth called Kumenosuke. His father, an amateur of haikai, had embarrassed Teishitsu with his knowledge when the master visited Yamanaka from the capital as a young man. Teishitsu returned to the city, joinied Teitoku's school, and built up a reputation, but it is said that he never accepted money for reviewing the work of anyone from this village after he became famous. The story is an old one now.

Sora was suffering from a stomach complaint. Because he had rleatives at Nagashima in Ise Province, he set off ahead of me. He wrote a poem as he was about to leave:

  yukiyuki shite           Journeying onward:
  taorefusu tomo       fall prostate though I may -
  hagi no hara             a bush-clover field!

The sorrow of the one who departed and the unhappiness of the one who remained resembled the feelings of a lapwing wandering lost in the clouds, separated from its friend.

 kyo yori ya              From this day forward,
 kakitsuke kesan        the legend will be erased:
 kasa no tsuyu             dewdrops on the hat.