いかさまに昔結べる契りにて
この世にかかる中の隔てぞ
この世にかかる中の隔てぞ
- Roma-ji
-
Ikasama ni mukashi musuberu chigiri nite
kono yo ni kakaru naka no hedate zo - English Translation
-
In what way was it
that a bond was tied between
us in lives before,
that in this world we should have
such a barrier between
- Meaning
- What kind of bond can we have tied in an earlier life, that in this one such a wall should stand between us?
- Commentary
-
Part One: Momiji no Ga
In the second month Fujitsubo gave birth to a son. Publicly he was the Emperor's child; in fact he was Genji's. Genji went to the Sanjo residence on the pretext of an imperial errand and asked, through Omyobu, to be received, but Fujitsubo firmly refused. Unable even to see her, he spoke this poem to Omyobu. She answered with a poem, but the meeting never took place.
"A bond tied in the past" means karmic connection from a former life, following the thinking of the age, which read present circumstances as the fruit of an earlier existence. "Such a wall between us" states the fact that he cannot see the woman who has borne his child. He turns no reproach on her and lays it all to something unexplainable—the karma of a former life—and in that the helplessness of his suffering shows.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
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Karahito no sode furu koto wa tōkeredo
tachii ni tsukete aware to wa miki - Next Poem
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Mite mo omou minu hata ika ni nagekuramu
ko ya yo no hito no madou chō yami