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.
- Meaning
-
How moving it is to hear the weeping. Though the torches are extinguished, I do not know that what fades is truly gone.
- Commentary
-
Episode Thirty-Nine: "Put out the torches"
There was an emperor known as the Emperor of Saiin. He had a princess named Takaiko. The princess passed away, and on the night of her funeral, a certain man who lived beside her residence set out to view the rites, riding in the carriage of a woman.
Minamoto no Itaru, famed for his fondness for women, also came to observe the funeral. Wishing to glimpse the woman riding in the carriage, he tossed a firefly inside.
This poem is Itaru’s reply to the man’s, "If the princess’s bier goes forth, it will be the end for her. Extinguish the torches and listen to the voices that weep, saying that her years were but a brief flame."
Though he outwardly expresses mourning for the princess after being prevented from seeing the woman in the carriage, the poem also suggests that even if the firefly’s light is put out, he does not believe that his longing will likewise vanish. According to the commentary, such a seemingly elegiac poem by one known for his amorous nature ill befits the princess’s intention. In the end, the scene becomes an unseemly contest between the man and Itaru over whether the woman should be seen at a place of mourning.
- Source
-
Ise Monogatari
- Other
-