From the open sea,
The sacred weeds they say serve
As the sea god’s crown—
Yet even these treasured fronds
For your sake I did not spare.
- Meaning
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Even the seaweed said to be worn by the god of the sea as a hair ornament from the wide sea—I did not begrudge giving it for your sake.
- Commentary
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87. Even a Boxwood Comb
There was once a man who lived in the village of Ashiya in the province of Settsu (present-day Hyōgo Prefecture), because he had lands there through family connections. The man held no great rank and only loosely served at court, so deputy officers of the Imperial Guards often gathered there. The man's elder brother was also the head of the Guards, and they would wander about the seashore before the man's residence.
One day the elder brother suggested that they go to see the Nunobiki Waterfall high in the mountains, and so they climbed the mountain. The waterfall was unlike ordinary ones: the water slid down a stone surface about twenty jō (roughly sixty meters) in length and five jō (about fifteen meters) in width. Where the water struck protruding rocks along the way, it broke apart and scattered into droplets about the size of mandarins or chestnuts. Those who were present were asked to compose poems on the waterfall.
The road back from the waterfall was long, and by the time they reached the house of Mochiyoshi, the former Director of the Ministry of the Imperial Household who had already passed away, evening had fallen. They composed poems and returned home.
That night a south wind blew and the waves were high. Early the next morning, the servant girls of the house returned from the shore carrying miru seaweed that had been cast up by the sea. The wives who managed the household placed the seaweed in a small heap upon a stand with legs, covered it with oak leaves, and presented it to the group of men.
The poem was written upon that oak leaf.
By likening the miru seaweed to the hair ornament of the sea god, the poem expresses a feeling of kindness and sympathy toward the sorrow and unhappy fate of the man and his elder brother.
- Source
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Ise Monogatari
- Other
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