思ひあらば葎の宿に寝もしなむ
ひじきものには袖をしつつも
ひじきものには袖をしつつも
- Roma-ji
-
Omoi araba mugura no yado ni ne mo shinamu
hijikimono ni wa sode o shitsutsu mo - English Translation
-
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.
- Meaning
- If you have any thought of me, then even in a hut overgrown with weeds we would sleep together; even without proper bedding, spreading our sleeves upon the bare mat, our hearts would be warmed.
- Commentary
-
Episode Three: "In the hut overgrown with weeds"
When the man sent the woman he loved a gift called "hijikimo," he added this poem.
It takes as its conceit a forthright and unexpected confession of love.
After the poem, there is a note that this took place when Lady Takaiko, consort of Emperor Seiwa, had not yet entered service at the emperor’s side and was still merely a daughter of the Fujiwara, of ministerial rank.
From this note, interest is added in the concrete personal relationship between Takaiko and Narihira.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
- Other
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- In Michinoku, the shinobu-rubbed pattern— for whose sake did it begin to tangle? It was not I who did so.
- Neither waking nor sleeping, I spent the night till dawn; calling it a thing of spring, I gazed away the hours.
- Is it not the moon? Is spring not the spring of former days? Only my own self remains as I once was.
- On the secret path I tread unseen by others, may the gatekeeper who stands watch there each night fall asleep night after night.