絶えぬべき御法ながらぞ頼まるる
世々にと結ぶ中の契りを
世々にと結ぶ中の契りを
- Roma-ji
-
Taenubeki minori nagara zo tanomaruru
yoyo ni to musubu naka no chigiri o - English Translation
-
Though this is the Law
that must now come to its end,
still I find in it
something to trust—this bond we
tie for lives upon lives
- Meaning
- Though this is the last such rite for me, still I find something to trust in it—this bond we tie between us for lives upon lives.
- Commentary
-
Part Two: Minori
At the dedication of the thousand sutras, Murasaki no Ue sent this poem to Hanachirusato as well. Saying that this will be her last such rite, she adds to the farewell the hope that the merit of it will bind them through lives to come. Hanachirusato had long helped hold the Rokujo household together as one of Genji's wives, and there had never been anything contentious between the two women. The chapter takes its name from this poem.
"Must now come to its end" says without saying it that her life is ending. "The Law" is the teaching, and also the rite itself. "I find something to trust" is a form that lets the feeling arise of itself. "For lives upon lives" is a bond meant to hold into the next world. "Tie" belongs with "bond" as an associated word. The poem states an ending and turns at the close to what endures, and it is the piece by which the chapter is known.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Other
-
- This body of mine is no great loss, and even so, to think it ends— that the firewood should burn through at last is a sad thing
- The thought of hewing firewood begins today, and the Law we pray for in this world of ours runs far off into the distance
- The bond we have tied between us will not be cut, even if for me the rites that remain to hold are few enough in number
- The while it is seen to settle there at all is brief—for at a breath it is scattered by the wind, this dew on the bush clover