The barrier at
Ausaka—what kind of a
barrier is it,
that one must push through a stand
of trees so thick with sighing?

Meaning

The barrier at Ausaka—what manner of barrier is it, that one must push through so thick a stand of grief?

Commentary

Part One: Sekiya

　Utsusemi answered his poem with this one. Her brother carried it to her with some awe, urging her to reply: it was more than they deserved that Genji's kindness had not changed, and no one would blame a woman for answering. She felt more diffidence now than ever, but perhaps could not hold back at so unexpected a letter; she added that it seemed like a dream. Genji kept her in mind as a woman whose sweetness and whose hardness he could not forget, and went on now and then sending word to unsettle her.

　"The barrier at Ausaka" carries the word for meeting, so that a barrier named for meeting is where no meeting occurs. "What manner of barrier is it that…" sets the question. "Shigeki" is both thickly grown and abundant. "Nageki" is grief with the word for tree inside it. "Waku" is to push through undergrowth and to make one's way through sorrow. A chain of associations struck from the place-name runs through the whole poem and states the irony of a meeting-place where they did not meet.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

The barrier at Ausaka—what kind of a barrier is it, that one must push through a stand of trees so thick with sighing?

The barrier at
Ausaka—what kind of a
barrier is it,
that one must push through a stand
of trees so thick with sighing?