The pool you would throw
yourself into is no true
pool at all, and so
I shall take no more of these
unchastened waves upon me
- Meaning
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The pool you say you would throw yourself into is no true pool, and so I shall not let those unchastened waves break over me again.
- Commentary
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Part Two: Wakana Jo
Oborozukiyo answered Genji's poem with this one. The pool he speaks of, she says, is not a true pool—he does not mean it—and she will not let herself be caught by such words. Knowing perfectly well how set he is, she keeps her footing. But the meetings did not stop, and her wish to follow Suzaku out of the world grew stronger.
"Pool" is the pool punned into his wisteria, taken up unchanged and used for feeling that is deep and in earnest. "No true pool at all" means that he does not mean it. "Unchastened waves" receives his own coinage as well, so that every word of the exchange answers exactly. Returning all of his associated words and then cutting back on the single point of whether he is serious makes this one of the sharpest replies she gives him.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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