手に摘みていつしかも見む紫の
根にかよひける野辺の若草
根にかよひける野辺の若草
- Roma-ji
-
Te ni tsumite itsushika mo mimu murasaki no
ne ni kayoikeru nobe no wakakusa - English Translation
-
When shall I pluck it
with my own hand and behold
this young field grass here
that runs down in its roots to
the purple gromwell's own root
- Meaning
- How soon may I pluck with my own hand and keep this young grass of the fields, whose roots run down to the roots of the purple gromwell?
- Commentary
-
Part One: Wakamurasaki
Even after his visit to the nun, Genji could not get the girl out of his head. On an autumn evening, in a mood of desolation, he spoke this poem almost to himself, wishing he could take her into his own keeping. Shortly afterward the nun died, and the girl was left without anyone to look after her. Genji saw his chance and set his mind on bringing her to the Nijo residence.
"Murasaki" is the gromwell, whose root yields purple dye, and because of that root the word is used for ties of blood. Here it means Fujitsubo, and "the young grass of the fields" is her niece, the girl. His feeling for Fujitsubo passing to the child who is her kin is set into an image of one root and the grass growing from it. Central to the chapter, this poem is also the source of the name by which Murasaki no Ue is known.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
-
Iwakenaki tazu no hitokoe kikishi yori
ashima ni nazumu fune zo e naranu - Next Poem
-
Ashiwaka no ura ni mirume wa kataku tomo
ko wa tachinagara kaeru nami ka wa