In anguish falls
this rain that pours and pours—
Miwa’s cape;
at Sano’s crossing there is
not even a house at all.

Meaning

This rain that pours and pours in anguish, as though to torment my lonely heart—at Miwa’s cape, at Sano’s crossing, there is not even a single house to take shelter in.

Commentary

Volume Four, Serpent’s Lust.

Toyoo, the third son of a family that prospered by fishing, took shelter from the rain with a noblewoman he met on his travels. Enchanted by her beauty, Toyoo spoke of a Man’yōshū poem about this place, overlapping it with the scene of taking shelter from the rain.

Rain can also be understood in a religious sense. Miwa’s cape lies near Kumano Shrine, and the poem sings of a mythic world together with the lonely heart of a lone traveler.

Author

Ueda Akinari

Source

Ugetsu Monogatari

Other

Even birds’ cries, too— the thickets of the secret mountain of vows.
Even if forgot, will a traveler draw and drink from Tamagawa— in the depths of Mount Kōya, these waters of Tamagawa?
When spring has come, will it be seen as flowers? On white snow clinging to the branches, the bush warbler cries.
With deep intent I stained my heart at that time; so it may be seen as flowers of snow that could not fade away.

In anguish falls this rain that pours and pours— Miwa’s cape; at Sano’s crossing there is not even a house at all.

In anguish falls
this rain that pours and pours—
Miwa’s cape;
at Sano’s crossing there is
not even a house at all.