Through the wandering
of those rough waves, could I e'er
set my mind aside
from the Sumiyoshi god,
or forget him even once?

Meaning

After being driven astray by those rough waves, could I ever put the Sumiyoshi god out of mind and forget him?

Commentary

Part One: Miotsukushi

　Genji answered Koremitsu's poem with this one, adding that the god's power had shown itself; he looked splendid as he said it. Immediately afterward Koremitsu told him that the boat from Akashi had been driven off by the crush of his own procession and had gone on past, and Genji, who had known nothing of it, was moved. Remembering how the god had guided him, he felt it was no small matter, and thought he must at least send some word.

　"Those rough waves" means not only the storm at Suma but the whole of the adversity endured there and at Akashi. "Mayoi" is being driven off course. "Sumiyoshi" takes up Koremitsu's word. "Kakete" is to hold in mind, and belongs to the imagery of going astray. "Could I forget?" is rhetorical. A retainer's feeling is answered by his lord as thanksgiving to a god.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Through the wandering of those rough waves, could I e'er set my mind aside from the Sumiyoshi god, or forget him even once?

Through the wandering
of those rough waves, could I e'er
set my mind aside
from the Sumiyoshi god,
or forget him even once?