If you stand and find
this fence of mist hard to pass
and go by our gate,
then a bolt made of grasses
would be no hindrance to you
- Meaning
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If you stop and say this fence of mist is hard to pass, then surely a gate barred only with grass could be no hindrance at all.
- Commentary
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Part One: Wakamurasaki
A quick-witted woman of the house came out and answered Genji's poem with this one. If he truly finds it so hard to leave, she says lightly, then a closed gate can hardly be stopping him. Genji admired the reply but did not press further and went on his way. He brought the girl to the Nijo residence a few days later.
"Magaki" is a fence roughly woven of brushwood or bamboo, and "a fence of mist" is mist lying thick like one. She takes up his "mist" and "pass by" and returns them as the exchange required. "Barred with grass" is a gate overgrown, which also says something about the state of the house. Turning his own claim against him—if you cannot pass, then come in—is the point of the poem.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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