If the land's own gods,
who keep the eight islands safe,
have hearts in them too,
let them judge between us in
a parting we have not willed

Meaning

If the gods of this land, who guard its eight islands, have hearts of their own, let them judge this parting neither of us wanted.

Commentary

Part One: Sakaki

　On the sixteenth of the ninth month the High Priestess performed her purification at the Katsura River and set out for the palace. As she left, the usual endless message came from Genji, tied to a strip of mulberry cloth, with this poem. Answers came back even in the bustle, the Priestess's written for her by a woman of her household. Genji held back from going to see them off, and passed the day in idle brooding at Nijo.

　"Yashima" is the land of Japan and "moru" is to guard. "Kunitsukami" are the gods of the land, a choice fitted both to a journey to Ise and to the Priestess's office. "Kotowaru" is to declare what is right, to judge. Framing a plea about a parting as a case brought before the gods lets him carry private feeling into a public occasion while wrapping it in the language of the rites.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

If the land's own gods, who keep the eight islands safe, have hearts in them too, let them judge between us in a parting we have not willed

If the land's own gods,
who keep the eight islands safe,
have hearts in them too,
let them judge between us in
a parting we have not willed