Rather than resent
this body worn soft with use,
shall I not cut it
over into the habit
of a fisher of Matsushima
- Meaning
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Rather than resent this body worn soft with use, shall I not cut it over into a fisher's habit at Matsushima?
- Commentary
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Part Two: Yugiri
Yugiri had begun going regularly to the Fallen Leaf Princess, and Kumoinokari's anger did not subside. One day, as he was about to set out, she picked up a soft, much-worn undergarment of his and spoke this poem: rather than resent a self grown old in the marriage, she would take vows. He answered, trying to calm her, and it did nothing. Before long she took the children and went home to her father's house.
"This body worn soft with use" holds both cloth grown soft from wearing and a couple grown used to one another. Matsushima is a poetic place-name in Mutsu. "A fisher's habit" is the rough garment of one who works the shore, and "fisher" sounds "nun," so it means taking vows. "Cut it over" is recutting cloth, an associated word for a garment. From a single article of clothing in her hand to a resolution to leave the world in one breath: it is very much her.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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