逢ふまでのかたみに契る中の緒の
しらべはことに変らざらなむ
しらべはことに変らざらなむ
- Roma-ji
-
Au made no katami ni chigiru naka no o no
shirabe wa koto ni kawarazaranamu - English Translation
-
The middle string that
we pledge to each other as
a keepsake until
we meet again—may its tune
never once alter its note
- Meaning
- The middle string we pledge to each other as a keepsake until we meet again—may its tuning never change at all.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Akashi
Genji took her murmured poem as calling words spoken in earnest careless, and answered with this one, adding that they would surely meet before the instrument fell out of tune, and trying to make her rely on him. But she only wept at the impossibility of the parting in front of her. The dawn of departure came soon after.
"Katami" is a keepsake and also "each to the other." "Naka no o" is the middle string of the koto, its "naka" also meaning the bond between them. "Shirabe" is the tuning. "Koto ni" is especially, and also "on the koto." Handing over an instrument becomes the figure for a vow, and every part of the koto turns into a word for their relationship, so that the chapter's koto theme is concentrated in a single poem.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Other
-
- Though thoughts burn in me like the weed the fisherfolk rake up and set fire, now there is no shell of worth and I will not even blame
- That single word you seem to have left me to trust, lightly though you meant— shall I hang it on that sound without end and weep for you?
- Sad enough to leave you behind and set out—and how will it be here in the wake the shore waves leave, I find myself wondering
- The rush-thatched hut where I have passed these years will fall to ruin—shall I send my body along with the sad waves, the way they turn?