If the years alone,
saying ten, have passed four times,
how many times
has she relied on you,
coming to you thus?
- Meaning
-
If the years alone, saying ten, have passed four times, how many times in that while has your wife relied upon you and come to you?
- Commentary
-
Episode Sixteen: "Folding the fingers"
Ki no Aritsune, who had served three reigns, lost in political strife and fell into poverty, forced to live in hardship.
Accustomed to an elegant life, he knew little of the world’s common ways and suffered greatly.
At last, even the wife who had long shared his life became a nun and left him.
This poem is a reply from a friend to Aritsune’s letter describing his circumstances, which ended with the poem, "Folding my fingers, counting the times we met—when I say ten, ten and ten and ten and ten have already passed."
The friend sent with the poem robes and bedding for a nun.
Because Aritsune and his wife had long been bound by deep trust over many years, the poem carries the meaning that he should send her forth with as much care and devotion as he can.
- Source
-
Ise Monogatari
- Other
-