On the ninth of the second month, we went up the Yodo River and passed by the Nagisa villa, gazing at it. It was the place where Prince Koretaka once admired the cherry blossoms with Ariwara no Narihira and others. On the eleventh, a little rain fell, then stopped. As we went upstream, we saw a mountain lying to the east, and when we asked, we were told it was "the Hachiman shrine" (Iwashimizu Hachimangu). We were glad to hear it and bowed in worship. The bridge at Yamazaki came into view. We could not have been happier. Here we moored for a while by Soo Temple and made various arrangements.
On the twelfth we stayed at Yamazaki. On the thirteenth, still at Yamazaki. On the fourteenth it rained. Today we sent to the capital for an ox carriage.
On the fifteenth, the carriage was brought today. The boat was cramped, so we moved from the boat to someone's house. The people of the house seemed delighted and entertained us. The host was so very attentive that one rather wondered whether he had some motive.
The picture on the little chest shop at Yamazaki and the hook-shaped sign of the rice-cake shop at Magari had not changed at all from before. "But who knows the hearts of the sellers," people said to one another.
On the sixteenth, in the evening, on the way up to the capital, we saw that the picture on the Yamazaki chest shop and the great hook at Magari were unchanged. At night we crossed the Katsura River. The moonlight was very bright. People said, "This river has not swapped its depths and shallows like the Asuka River," and someone composed this poem:
"The light of the moon on the riverbed of the Katsura, which shares its name with the laurel said to grow on the faraway moon, has not changed in the least from long ago."
In our joy as the capital drew near, many poems were composed.