などてかくあふごかたみになりにけむ
水もらさじとむすびしものを
水もらさじとむすびしものを
- Roma-ji
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Nadote kaku ōgo katami ni narinikemu
mizu morasaji to musubishi mono o - English Translation
-
Why has it come to pass
that thus our meeting time
has grown so hard to gain?—
though we had bound our vow
as if to let no water leak.
- Meaning
- Why has it come to pass that meeting has thus become so hard to gain, though we had bound our vow so firmly as if to let not even water leak through?
- Commentary
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Episode Twenty-Eight: "Why has it come to pass"
A woman of amorous disposition left her husband’s house and went away to another man.
This poem was composed by the man who had been her husband.
"Afu-go" suggests both the time of meeting and a carrying pole; "katami" suggests both difficulty and a bamboo basket or one’s own share; "musubishi" suggests both binding a vow and scooping up water in one’s hands. It is a poem that makes use of many pivot words.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
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