Was it the small comb
I set upon your parting
road that the god took
for pretext, to warn us to
a bond as far off as this?
- Meaning
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Was it the small comb I added on your parting road that the god took as pretext, warning us into a bond as far apart as this?
- Commentary
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Part One: Eawase
The former Priestess's entry to the Reizei Emperor's court drew near, and under Fujitsubo's urging Genji stood in a parent's place to see to it. The Suzaku Retired Emperor, who had long cared for her and now found his wishes thwarted, had let his letters lapse for shame; but on the day itself he sent a comb box, incense, and other things beyond compare. With Genji present, the woman official showed the gifts, and on the ornamental flower of the comb box this poem was tied. She answered.
"Wakareji" is the parting road, meaning the rite of the farewell comb in the Sakaki chapter, when at the great hall the Emperor set a small comb in the Priestess's hair and said she must not turn back toward the capital. "Ogushi" lays that comb over the one he sends now. "Kagoto" is a pretext. "Harukeki naka" is a bond far apart. A rite of more than ten years past is raised as the ground of a grievance, and a scene from the Sakaki chapter is called back through this single poem.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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