My sleeve has no time
to dry, longing as it does
for the one who's gone,
and now the drops from these eaves
in ruin are added too
- Meaning
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My sleeve never dries, longing as it does for the one who is gone; and now the drops from these ruined eaves are added to it.
- Commentary
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Part One: Yomogiu
In the fourth month Genji remembered Hanachirusato and went out privately. Rain still fell from the last of a long spell, and as he rode under a fine evening moon he passed a house so overgrown that the trees stood like a wood. Wisteria hung on a great pine and swayed in the moonlight; drawn by its scent he leaned from the carriage, and saw that it was the Hitachi Prince's house. Inside, at that hour, Suetsumuhana had dreamed of her dead father in an afternoon sleep, and while she had the leaking eaves wiped and the rooms set in order she spoke this poem. Immediately after, Genji sent Koremitsu in to find out how things stood.
"The one who is gone" is her father. "Himanaki" is without a break, of a sleeve that never dries. "The drops from the ruined eaves" are the leak itself, the state of the house made plain. "Sou" is to be added. Tears set against falling rain is a common figure in the tale, but here it is not figurative: she truly lives in a house that leaks. The poem is placed at the very hour when Genji stands outside the gate looking at the wisteria.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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