たづねゆくまぼろしもがなつてにても
魂のありかをそこと知るべく
魂のありかをそこと知るべく
- Roma-ji
-
Tazuneyuku maboroshi mogana tsute ni te mo
tama no arika o soko to shirubeku - English Translation
-
If only there were
a wizard who could go seek—
then even by word
passed on from another's mouth
I would know where her soul dwells
- Meaning
- If only some sorcerer would go searching for her, so that even at second hand I might learn where her soul has come to rest.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Kiritsubo
When Myobu returned and described the ruined house and the mother's words, the Emperor's sorrow grew heavier still. At that time his eye had fallen on paintings of the Song of Everlasting Sorrow, depicting Emperor Xuanzong and Yang Guifei. Recalling the tale of the Taoist adept who found the dead woman's soul, he spoke this poem. His grief continued long afterward, and only his feeling for the young prince gave him any comfort.
"Maboroshi" is the sorcerer of the Chinese poem, and the Emperor lays his own grief over that older story. "Tsute ni temo" means "even at second hand," carrying the unspoken assumption that meeting her himself is impossible. The wish is voiced already in the knowledge that it cannot be granted, and that is where the depth of his sorrow lies. The poem also shows plainly how strongly the Kiritsubo chapter draws on the Song of Everlasting Sorrow.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
-
Araki kaze fusegishi kage no kareshi yori
kohagi ga ue zo shizugokoro naki - Next Poem
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Kumo no ue mo namida ni kururu aki no tsuki
ikade sumuramu asajū no yado