数ならでなにはのこともかひなきに
などみをつくし思ひそめけむ
などみをつくし思ひそめけむ
- Roma-ji
-
Kazu narade Naniwa no koto mo kai naki ni
nado miotsukushi omoisomekemu - English Translation
-
Being of no count,
nothing at Naniwa
comes to any good here—
why then did I spend myself
and begin to love at all?
- Meaning
- Being of no account, nothing here at Naniwa comes to anything; why then did I spend myself and begin to love?
- Commentary
-
Part One: Miotsukushi
Akashi no Kimi answered his poem with this one. Having done nothing but watch his party ride past, she found even so brief a letter so unlooked-for and so far above her that she wept. She sent her reply tied to the mulberry cloth used in the purification at Tamino island.
"Kazu narade" is being of no account. "Naniwa" plays the place-name against "anything at all," naming the same spot as his poem. "Kai naki" is worthless, with the word for shell inside it, tying it to the shore. "Miotsukushi" takes up his own word and the same old poem. He spoke of a deep bond; she speaks of the futility that comes of the gap in rank. Every word of the exchange is shared, and only the conclusion is reversed.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
-
Miotsukushi kouru shirushi ni koko made mo
meguriaikeru e ni wa fukashi na - Next Poem
-
Tsuyukesa no mukashi ni nitaru tabigoromo
Tamino no shima no na ni wa kakurezu