ありし世のなごりだになき浦島に
立ち寄る波のめづらしきかな
立ち寄る波のめづらしきかな
- Roma-ji
-
Arishi yo no nagori dani naki Urashima ni
tachiyoru nami no mezurashiki kana - English Translation
-
On this island shore
where not even a trace stays
of the world that was,
how rare a thing it is that
a wave should come in to it
- Meaning
- On this island shore where not a trace of the old world remains, how rare a thing that a wave should come in at all.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Sakaki
Fujitsubo answered his poem with this one. Her seat was not deep within, most of the rooms having been given over to the Buddha, so her voice carried faintly out. Genji, restraining himself, still let the tears fall, and with nuns who had put the world behind them looking on, he said little and withdrew. The older women wept and praised the man he had grown into.
"The world that was" is the years while the late Emperor lived. "Not even a trace" says nothing of it remains. "Urashima" takes up his "Matsu ga Urashima," carrying the exchange forward. "A wave that comes in" is Genji himself, and surf reaching a ruined shore stands for a visit after long absence. She thanks him and still keeps her distance.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Other
-
- In the general wretchedness of things I turn away from the world, and yet when shall I be done with turning my back on it
- The moment I see it as the dwelling of one who gathers sea-grass, my sleeves begin dripping brine here at the pine-clad island
- In this first blossom that opened up this morning, a thing one would wish for oneself, I see a glow that yields nothing to your own
- Out of season, this bloom that opened this morning seems to have been made to droop by the summer rain before it could show its glow