In this first binding
of a young boy's gathered hair,
did you bind as well
a heart that pledges to keep
the long years of a lifetime

Meaning

Into this first binding of a young boy's hair, did you bind also a heart that promises a bond lasting all our years?

Commentary

Part One: Kiritsubo

　The young prince reached the age of twelve, and his coming-of-age ceremony was held at the palace. The Minister of the Left served as the one who placed the cap, and he had long hoped to give his daughter, Aoi, to Genji in marriage. The Emperor understood this, and after the ceremony addressed this poem to him. The Minister answered with a poem of his own, and that same night Genji became a son-in-law of his house.

　"Hatsu motoyui" is the first binding up of the hair at the coming-of-age rite, and the act of "binding" is turned directly into the binding of a marriage tie. "Nagaki yo" means a long-lasting bond between husband and wife. The proposal is never spoken outright but put as a question through the gesture of the ceremony, and the poem shows well how language was used at court.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

In this first binding of a young boy's gathered hair, did you bind as well a heart that pledges to keep the long years of a lifetime

In this first binding
of a young boy's gathered hair,
did you bind as well
a heart that pledges to keep
the long years of a lifetime