玉かづらはふ木あまたになりぬれば
絶えぬ心のうれしげもなし
絶えぬ心のうれしげもなし
- Roma-ji
-
Tamakazura hau ki amata ni narinureba
taenu kokoro no ureshige mo nashi - English Translation
-
Like jeweled vines
that wind upon many trees—
so it has become;
your unceasing heart for me
brings no sign of joy at all.
- Meaning
- Like vines that wind themselves around many trees, you have come to visit many women; so even if you say your feelings for me have never ceased, it brings me no joy at all.
- Commentary
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118 Jeweled Vines
A certain man had not visited a woman for a long time. At one point, he said to her, “There is not the slightest feeling of forgetting you. I will come to see you soon.”
The poem was composed by the woman in response to his words.
Even in an age when it was accepted for a man to have many women, a man with a wandering heart must have been difficult for a woman to forgive.
- Source
- Ise Monogatari
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Katami koso ima wa ata nare kore naku wa
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