In the one measure
of Takekawa I sang
there at the bridge end
did you come to know how deep
the bottom of my heart lies
- Meaning
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In that one measure of Takekawa I let out, there at the bridge, did you come to know how deep the bottom of my heart lies?
- Commentary
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Part Three: Takekawa
The morning after the party a letter came from Kaoru to his host. It began by asking how they had all seen his unseemly behavior of the night before, and it was written with a good many syllabary characters, as though he meant it to be shown to the ladies as well; this poem stood at its edge. The Chamberlain carried it to the main house, where his mother and brothers read it together. She praised the hand extravagantly, saying that a young man who had lost Genji so early and been brought up by his mother should write so well, and used it to disparage her own sons' writing.
Takekawa is the name of a saibara song and the name of this chapter. "Hashi" is both the bridge of the lyric and the edge or bare beginning of a thing, so that he speaks of the bridge in the song and of having sung only a snatch of it. "Take" goes with "fushi," the joint of a bamboo, and "kawa" with "deep" and "bottom," binding the bamboo joint and the river's depth into one poem. It is the first time he hints at his feeling for a daughter of the house, and from now on he comes and goes to the Chamberlain's room and lets it be seen.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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