This travelling robe,
as wet with dew as it was
in the days gone by—
the name of Tamino isle
is no rain-cape to hide it

Meaning

This travelling robe, as wet with tears as in those old days—the name of Tamino island is no rain-cape that can hide it.

Commentary

Part One: Miotsukushi

　Having read her reply, Genji performed the purification at Tamino island. The day was drawing in, the evening tide came up, and the cranes in the inlet called without sparing their voices. Perhaps because the hour was so full of feeling, he wished he could see her without caring who noticed. It was then that he spoke this poem. Excursions filled the road home, and still his mind stayed with her.

　"The dew-wet past" is the years of makeshift living at Suma and Akashi. "Tabigoromo," the travelling robe, has stood for this man's exile since the Akashi chapter. Tamino is a poetic island at the mouth of the Yodo, and since "mino" is a straw rain-cape the name gives the conceit that his tears cannot be hidden. The poem draws on Tsurayuki's verse about passing Tamino island in the rain and finding no shelter in the name.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

This travelling robe, as wet with dew as it was in the days gone by— the name of Tamino isle is no rain-cape to hide it

This travelling robe,
as wet with dew as it was
in the days gone by—
the name of Tamino isle
is no rain-cape to hide it