No visitors come,
though it is not that my heart
has grown clear at all—
I have found this Uji hill
bitter, and borrowed a room
- Meaning
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No one comes to me now, though it is not that my heart has grown clear; finding the world bitter, I have borrowed lodging on Uji hill.
- Commentary
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Part Three: Hashihime
This is the Eighth Prince's reply. He denies that it is he who keeps the distance, and describes instead, quite plainly, the facts of his life shut away at Uji. The exchange makes his manner of living talked of again in the capital, and prepares the ground on which Kaoru will later come to visit him.
Sumu, to grow clear, also sounds as sumu, to dwell, and Uji carries ushi, bitter. Both were common plays in the period. The poem leans on Kisen's well known verse about a hut southeast of the capital that people call Uji hill, the hill of bitterness, and so answers with learning. "Borrowed a room" is temporary lodging, which touches as well on the Buddhist view of this world as an inn taken for a night.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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