Only a shadow
on the Mitarashi stream,
and he passes by—
how wretched my own lot is
I come to know all the more

Meaning

I see only his reflection on the Mitarashi stream as he passes without a glance, and I learn all the better how wretched my own lot is.

Commentary

Part One: Aoi

　On the day of the new High Priestess's purification, Rokujo no Miyasudokoro went out incognito to see Genji in the procession. The party of Aoi no Ue, then with child, forced its way in, and her attendants shoved the other carriage roughly aside. Miyasudokoro's carriage was pushed to the back, its stand broken, and she could see nothing. When the procession passed, Genji went by without appearing to notice her. She spoke this poem with the tears coming. That humiliation is the seed of the living spirit that will later torment Aoi no Ue.

　"Kage" is a reflection on water, standing for a Genji she can only watch from a distance. The Mitarashi is the river of the Kamo purification, taking the day's setting straight into the poem. Its name sounds the word for having seen, and "tsurenaki" answers both the coldness of the water and Genji's manner. Publicly shamed, she turns no reproach on anyone and takes it all as the wretchedness of her own lot, and her pride shows in that.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Only a shadow on the Mitarashi stream, and he passes by— how wretched my own lot is I come to know all the more

Only a shadow
on the Mitarashi stream,
and he passes by—
how wretched my own lot is
I come to know all the more