Not having learned it,
of the ways of the world,
what could it be—
that I should ask of others
what it is they call love?
- Meaning
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Having never known it, I am the one who asks people of the world just what it is they call love.
- Commentary
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Episode Thirty-Eight: "Because of you"
A certain man went out to the residence of Ki no Aritsune, but Aritsune was away and returned late.
This poem is Aritsune’s reply to the man’s, "Because of you, I have come to know this feeling. In this world, do people call such a thing love, I wonder?"
The man, kept waiting, jestingly likened his wish that Aritsune would return sooner to the feeling of love, asking whether such a feeling might be called love. Aritsune, playing along with the jest, replies that he, having no experience of love, is hardly the one to be questioned about it.
The close friendship between the man and Aritsune is revealed here. If we think of the man as Ariwara no Narihira, known for his many loves, Aritsune’s reply carries a touch of irony.
- Source
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Ise Monogatari
- Other
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The cord we two together
knotted fast between us—
alone, by myself,
until I see you once again,
I think I shall not loose it.
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Because of you alone,
I have learned this longing—
in this fleeting world,
do people call such a thing
by the name of love, I wonder?
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If she should go forth,
then all would be at an end—
put out the torches;
hear the voices that lament,
saying her years were but a flame.
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How deeply moving,
the weeping that I now hear—
though the torches die,
that things should vanish and be gone,
that I do not truly know.