Over the hill stream
shut in ice, which the horse breaks
underfoot, shall I,
while I am about guiding
another, be first to cross?

Meaning

The hill stream is shut in ice for the horse to break underfoot; while I am about guiding another, shall I be the first to cross it?

Commentary

Part Three: Shiigamoto

　Kaoru's reply to Oigimi. He is to act as guide and bring Niou to Uji, and says that before that he would cross the river himself. Keeping the position of guardian, he lets his feeling for her show through the act of crossing.

　Tsurara here is ice. The horse breaking the ice underfoot takes up her fumikayou. Shirube shigatera is while about the business of guiding, that is, while acting as go-between for Niou. "Shall I be the first to cross" carries the sense of going ahead of another, and says without saying it that he would come to an understanding with her before anyone else does.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

If only I could think of the one who has gone as I think of snow that gathers on the needles of the pines in the deep hills
Where snow lies deep on the bridge across the mountain, there is not one track of another treading through— none, my lord, except your own
The foot of the oak I had trusted for the shade I might turn aside to has become, I find now, an empty seat and nothing
Had I been able to see them as bracken shoots you had picked yourself on the peak, I might have known them for a sign of springtime

Over the hill stream shut in ice, which the horse breaks underfoot, shall I, while I am about guiding another, be first to cross?

Over the hill stream
shut in ice, which the horse breaks
underfoot, shall I,
while I am about guiding
another, be first to cross?