The eight hundred and
ten thousand gods must surely
feel for me in this,
since there is no crime of mine
that anyone can point to
- Meaning
-
The countless gods must surely feel for me, since there is no crime of mine that anyone can name.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Suma
The sea lay calm and bright, and with no notion of what lay ahead he found himself going over the past and the future together. It was then that he spoke this poem. Almost at once the wind rose, the sky went black, and before the purification could be finished the party was in confusion. Thunder and torrential rain came down until they feared the world was ending, and Genji alone went on quietly reciting a sutra. Toward dawn a figure that seemed to be the dragon king appeared to him in a dream, and his time at Suma reached its limit.
"The eight hundred myriad gods" are the gods in their multitude. "Aware to omou" is to feel for someone. "No crime that can be named" states his innocence. It is the same appeal as in the earlier crane poem, but here the storm breaks immediately after he addresses the gods. As the last poem of the chapter it stands at the point where the tale is sent on into Akashi.
- Author
-
Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
-
Genji Monogatari
- Other
-