梓弓ま弓槻弓年をへて
わがせしがごとうるはしみせよ
わがせしがごとうるはしみせよ
- Roma-ji
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Azusayumi mayumi tsukiyumi toshi o hete
waga seshi ga goto uruwashimi seyo - English Translation
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Azusa bow,
true-bow, and zelkova bow—
through passing years,
love him with fair devotion
as once you did with me.
- Meaning
- Azusa bow, true-bow, and zelkova bow—through the passing years, cherish him with the same devotion as you once did me.
- Commentary
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Episode Twenty-Four: "Of the new-turning year"
A man living in a remote countryside left the woman in order to serve at court, and for three full years he did not visit her. Wearied of waiting, she resolved to take a new pillow with another and answered the returned man with the poem, "Through three full years of the new-turning year I have waited in vain; only this very night shall I take a new pillow."
This poem is the man’s reply. Perhaps aware that he had left her unattended for three years, he answers with composure and wishes for her happiness.
The azusa bow is made of catalpa wood, the true-bow of spindle wood, and the zelkova bow of zelkova wood. Since a bow is something a man takes in hand, it is sometimes said to be likened to a woman.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
- Other
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- Each night you said that you would surely come has passed in vain; though I no longer rely on it, still do I live on longing.
- Through three full years of the new-turning year I have waited in vain; only this very night shall I take a new pillow.
- Azusa bow— whether you draw it or not, from long ago my heart has leaned toward you and never turned away.
- Loving still, I could not detain the one who left, not loving me the same— and now my life has faded away.