In Michinoku, the shinobu-rubbed pattern—
for whose sake did it begin to tangle? It was not I who did so.

Meaning

The twisted pattern of shinobu-rubbing from Shinobu in Michinoku is tangled again and again; just so, my heart has begun to be thrown into turmoil—not by anyone else’s doing but yours alone.

Commentary

Episode One: "Shinobu no midare"

Like “Like the pale young purple of Kasuga Plain, / a robe rubbed with dye—my hidden thoughts are tangled beyond all measure,” this poem is composed by likening a heart that cannot remain at peace from longing to the tangled pattern of shinobu-rubbing.

In the narrative, it appears alongside the above poem from long ago as a verse of the same purport.

Source

Ise Monogatari

Other

Where no one comes to see them, mountain-village cherry blossoms— let them bloom only after the others have fallen.
Like the pale young purple of Kasuga Plain, a robe rubbed with dye—my hidden thoughts are tangled beyond all measure.
Neither waking nor sleeping, I spent the night till dawn; calling it a thing of spring, I gazed away the hours.
If you have any thought of me, then in the hut overgrown with weeds we would sleep; even with my sleeves spread upon the bare mat.

In Michinoku, the shinobu-rubbed pattern— for whose sake did it begin to tangle? It was not I who did so.

In Michinoku, the shinobu-rubbed pattern—
for whose sake did it begin to tangle? It was not I who did so.