名残なく燃ゆとしりせば皮衣
思ひの外にをきて見ましを
思ひの外にをきて見ましを
- Roma-ji
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Nagori naku moyu to shiriseba kawagoromo
omoi no hoka ni okite mimashi o - English Translation
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Had I but known it would burn without a trace,
The fur robe,
I would have set it aside and only looked.
- Meaning
- Had I known it would burn away without a trace, I would not have cast the fur robe into the fire but only looked on. (Because I did not know it was a counterfeit, I feared it might be genuine and tested it by fire.)
- Commentary
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The Right Minister Abe no Mimuraji brought what was said to be “the Fire-Rat’s Fur Robe,” set as the condition for marriage with Princess Kaguya, but it was uncertain whether it was genuine. If it were truly the Fire-Rat’s Fur Robe, it should never burn; so, to test it, he actually cast it into the fire—and it flared up and burned.
This poem is Princess Kaguya’s reply to: “With boundless longing, the fur robe burned not; / The sleeves, once wet, are now dried— / Today at last I will wear it.”
- Source
- Taketori Monogatari
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