The frost, set down so
that one takes it for the white
mulberry they hang—
is it not the plainest proof
that the god is truly here
- Meaning
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This frost, set down so that one takes it for the white mulberry the priests hang—surely it is the plainest proof that the god is here.
- Commentary
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Part Two: Wakana Ge
After Murasaki no Ue and the Akashi Consort, the gentlewoman Nakatsukasa closed the set with this third poem. Where the first two had seen the frost as mulberry cloth, she accepts the figure and adds that it is indeed the god's own proof. A woman in service agreeing with what her mistresses have made of the scene gives the set a steady ending. The party then went back to the capital, and the tale moves on to Suzaku's fiftieth-year celebration and the women's concert at the Rokujo residence.
"Priests" are those who serve at the shrine. "So that one takes it for" is being mistaken for something else. "Surely" agrees with what the two poems before have said. "Plainest" is what stands out beyond mistaking. All three use the same pairing of frost and white cloth, and they move through it in stages—seeing it as, laying it over, confirming it—which makes them a well-built set.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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