中絶えばかごとや負ふとあやふさに
はなだの帯を取りてだに見ず
はなだの帯を取りてだに見ず
- Roma-ji
-
Nakataeba kagoto ya ou to ayausa ni
hanada no obi o torite dani mizu - English Translation
-
Were the two of you
to break, I might be blamed for
it—and fearing that,
I have not so much as picked
the pale blue sash up to look
- Meaning
- Should the two of you part, I might be blamed for it; fearing as much, I have not even picked up this pale blue sash to look at it.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Momiji no Ga
The morning after the commotion, To no Chujo's sash was left in Genji's hands, while Genji's own robe had lost its outer sleeve, which To no Chujo had carried off. From the night quarters he sent it back wrapped up, with word that Genji had better have it sewn on first. Annoyed to think how it had been got hold of, Genji wrapped the sash in paper of the same color and sent it back with this poem. To no Chujo answered at once, and the matter was settled for the time being.
"Breaking off" is the ending of a liaison, drawing on the sash in the words of the saibara song "Ishikawa." "Kagoto" means a grievance and also plays on the metal fitting of a sash, working as an associated word. "Hanada" is a pale blue. By saying he has not even touched it, he declares he wants no part in the business—while in fact taking great trouble over how to return it. The rivalry between two close friends becomes, quite directly, a rivalry of poetic technique.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Other
-
- Bitter as I am, there is no use in saying— after waves that rose one upon another, then drew away and left nothing
- At that roughened wave my heart is not stirred at all, and yet how should I not resent the shore that drew and let such a wave come in
- Since it is a sash that you have gone and drawn off from me in this way, I shall lay the blame on you that the bond is broken now
- In a dark of heart that will never find an end I am left in gloom, seeing her go where the clouds dwell, so far above me now