Shika’s diver-maids,
Too busy gath’ring seaweed blades,
Burning salt and such,
Have no time to to comb your hair,
Or to mind your outfit much.
(Vol.3-278)

Ishikawa was one of those “Chamberlains of Refined Taste” (風流侍従＝Fuuryuu Jijuu), who served close to the high nobility and displayed a refined taste in literature and style. When he was assigned to Dazaifu Government in Kyushu as an officer, he had an opportunity of visiting Shika Island, off Fukuoka, and made this poem, viewing diver-maids busily engaged in their task of reaping seaweeds, boiling seawater to extract dry salt, etc., without paying attention to their appearance. He must have felt compassion to those young maids in the common class and wished them well.
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