かたみにぞかふべかりける逢ふことの
日数へだてん中のころもを
日数へだてん中のころもを
- Roma-ji
-
Katami ni zo kaubekarikeru au koto no
hikazu hedaten naka no koromo o - English Translation
-
It is right that we
exchange these robes, each for each,
as keepsakes—the robes
worn between, which stand between
us the count of all the days
- Meaning
- We ought to exchange them as keepsakes, each for the other—these robes worn between, which will stand between us for all the days until we meet.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Akashi
Finding her poem on the hunting robe, Genji answered with this one in the midst of the bustle, saying that since she had gone to such trouble he would exchange it, and giving her a garment he had been wearing. Scent had sunk deep into it, and the tale says it could not fail to move the woman who received it. The novice came then to take his leave.
"Katami" is keepsake and "each to the other," the same pun as in the koto poem earlier. "Kau" is to exchange. "Hikazu hedaten" is the number of days that will divide them, and also the robe that lies between. "Naka no koromo" is the garment worn between under- and outer robe, its "naka" also the bond between them. Through the name of a piece of clothing, separation and connection are stated at once.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Other
-
- 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?
- This travelling robe I have cut and layered while the waves came shoreward— will you find it wet with brine and turn from it in dislike?
- Weary of the world, I have become one soaked through with brine these many years on this shore—and even so I cannot leave this bank
- Could it fall short of the grief of that spring when I went out from the town— this autumn in which I part from a shore grown old with years