I would like to show
you the sleeve of the boatman
who gave her heart at
the shore of Suma, and let
it rot away since with tears
- Meaning
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I would show you the sleeve of the boat-woman who gave her heart at the shore of Suma, and has let it rot away with tears since.
- Commentary
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Part One: Akashi
The Dazai Deputy's daughter, the Gosechi dancer, felt that her hidden feeling for Genji had cooled at last; she had her messenger signal to a gentlewoman and leave a letter quietly at the Nijo residence, so that Murasaki no Ue should not find it. This poem was in it. Genji noticed that the hand had improved, guessed who had written, and sent a reply.
"The shore of Suma" recalls the occasion of the towing-rope poem in that chapter, calling a scene back across two chapters. "The boat-person who gave her heart" is herself. "The sleeve rotted away" is the sleeve worn out with weeping. The woman once held back from her boat by the sound of a koto says she still feels the same in the capital, and a scene from the Suma chapter is gathered up here.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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