Meeting you by chance
on the road to Omi, I
put my trust in it,
and still nothing came of it—
a sea with no shells nor salt

Meaning

Meeting you by chance on the Omi road, I put my hopes in it, and still nothing came of it—a sea that holds neither salt nor shells.

Commentary

Part One: Sekiya

　On his way back from Ishiyama, Genji entrusted a message for Utsusemi to her brother, who had come to meet him. This was the man who, when trouble came and Genji went to Suma, had gone down to Hitachi rather than risk the world's opinion; Genji had held it against him for years without ever showing it, and still counted him among his household. He wrote that their meeting had shown him how deep an old bond ran, and asked whether she had not felt the same, and sent this poem. She answered.

　"Wakuraba ni" is by rare chance. "The road where we met" carries the name of Omi. "Kai nashi" is to no purpose, with the word for shell inside it. "A sea that is not salt" is Lake Biwa, and since no shells live there the logic of the pun follows. From the barrier's name he moves to the province, the lake, and the shells, turning geography itself into the material of a reproach. He added that he had found the barrier keeper—her husband—enviable and galling.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Meeting you by chance on the road to Omi, I put my trust in it, and still nothing came of it— a sea with no shells nor salt

Meeting you by chance
on the road to Omi, I
put my trust in it,
and still nothing came of it—
a sea with no shells nor salt