あまた年今日改めし色衣
着ては涙ぞふる心地する
着ては涙ぞふる心地する
- Roma-ji
-
Amata toshi kyō aratameshi irogoromo
kite wa namida zo furu kokochi suru - English Translation
-
For a good many
years I have put on new robes
of color this day,
and putting one on, I feel
as though tears were falling down
- Meaning
- For years now I have changed into bright robes on this day, and putting one on I feel as though tears were coming down.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Aoi
The new year came, and on the first day Genji went to the Retired Emperor, then to the palace and the Heir Apparent, and last of all to the Minister of the Left's. The Minister passed over the greetings of the season and spoke only of the past, until his eyes filled. From Omiya came robes prepared with great care, with a message asking him to lay aside mourning for this one day. Changed into them, Genji sent her this poem with his reply. She answered, and the chapter closes there.
"For a good many years" refers to the New Year robes he had changed into at this house each year. "Iro-goromo" are bright robes as opposed to mourning grey. "Furu" plays tears falling against years passing, and it is the word that carries over into Omiya's reply. The festive act of changing into new clothes becomes itself the occasion of grief, and a New Year scene turns into a scene of mourning.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Other
-
- With you gone, the dust has gathered on the wild pink— and brushing away the dew from it, how many nights shall I lie down alone
- For no cause at all you have kept a wall between, night piling on night, and yet the robes of those nights had grown familiar to us
- Saying nothing of whether or not the year is a new one at all, what falls, and falls, are the tears of one who has grown old here
- At this sacred fence there is no cedar standing to mark out the place— what did you take it for, then, this branch of sakaki here