Among the pine groves
of Oshio, where the snow
lies deep, has there been
any track before today
to match the one made today?
- Meaning
-
Among the pines of Oshio, where the snow lies deep, has there ever been a track to match the one made today?
- Commentary
-
Part One: Miyuki
This is Genji's reply. Had any Chancellor, the narrator wonders, ever attended such a progress to the moors? Genji received the messenger with every courtesy. Though whether the scraps of that day that come back to mind are remembered rightly, the narrator adds in her usual way, who can say. Tamakazura, having seen the Emperor for the first time, was moved, and began to think that service at court might not be unwelcome; and Genji, as though he had read her, sent her a letter the very next day.
"Mi-yuki" means deep snow and at the same time the imperial progress. Taking up the Emperor's "deep snow" and recasting it as a pivot word is the poem's chief stroke. "Ato," the track, likewise comes straight from the Emperor's poem and keeps both senses—marks in the snow and precedent. "Has there been any to match today" is praise; but by putting it as a question rather than a statement he keeps it from presuming. Told to look for a precedent, he answers that there can be none: not a seam shows in the reply. Every word of the other poem is taken up and handed back—a model of the courtly exchange.
- Author
-
Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
-
Genji Monogatari
- Other
-