Because for a spray
of that purple my heart is dyed,
what should I care if
they say I threw myself into
the deep pool of wisteria?
- Meaning
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My heart is dyed for the sake of that purple; why should I grudge the name of one who threw himself into the wisteria's deep pool?
- Commentary
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Part One: Kocho
The music went on after daybreak. Word had spread of the flawless beauty of the lady in the west wing, Tamakazura, and of how particularly Genji looked after her, and many young gentlemen had set their hearts on her. The Prince of War above all, having lost the lady he had lived with for years and been alone these three, made his interest plain without constraint. That morning too, feigning himself very drunk, he set wisteria in his headdress and made a soft, noisy show of himself, which was entertaining to see. Genji, inwardly pleased that things were going as he had hoped, took pains to look as though he noticed nothing. When the cup came round the Prince made a great business of it, saying that if he had had no particular purpose he would have fled long since and could not take another drop; and so, refusing it, he made this poem and handed Genji a sprig of the same wisteria.
"Murasaki" draws on the old poem about the one stalk of purple that makes a man love every grass on Musashi Plain, and means one connected with Genji—that is, Tamakazura. "My heart is dyed" belongs with purple as an associated word. "Fuchi" plays on the deep pool and on wisteria, and belongs to purple as well. In the alarming figure of throwing himself into a pool he exaggerates the depth of his feeling. To declare a suit under cover of drunkenness, with a spray of wisteria handed across, is a manner proper to such a gathering. This is the Prince's only poem in the chapter, and its office is to announce that things have begun to move as Genji intended.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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