At Ashiwaka
bay the seaweed is hard to
find and hard to see,
am I a wave that stands here
and turns back with nothing gained

Meaning

Hard as it is to find the seaweed in Ashiwaka bay, am I a wave that merely rises and falls back with nothing?

Commentary

Part One: Wakamurasaki

　After the nun's death, when the period of mourning had passed, the girl returned to the house in the capital. Genji sent his condolences and pressed once more to take her in. But she was still a child, and her nurse Shonagon held that she ought properly to be handed to her father, Prince Hyobu, so nothing moved. Genji spoke this poem in the course of that exchange, showing he would not simply withdraw. Shonagon answered, and went on holding him off.

　"Ashiwaka bay" is a shore where young reeds grow, and "waka," young, sounds the girl's childhood. "Mirume" is a seaweed whose name also plays on "eyes that see," so it means meeting. "A wave that rises and turns back" is the surf, standing for going away empty-handed. Piling associated words into one coastal scene, the poem holds together both the obstacle of her youth and his refusal to give up.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

At Ashiwaka bay the seaweed is hard to find and hard to see, am I a wave that stands here and turns back with nothing gained

At Ashiwaka
bay the seaweed is hard to
find and hard to see,
am I a wave that stands here
and turns back with nothing gained