Having lived so long,
I have come upon a shoal
of gladness at last—
whereas, had I thrown myself
into the Uji river
- Meaning
-
Having lived so long, I have come upon a shoal of gladness after all—whereas had I thrown myself into the Uji river.
- Commentary
-
Part Three: Sawarabi
On the day of setting out at last for the capital, Taifu no Kimi, an old gentlewoman who had served Naka no Kimi for many years, spoke this. In the days after losing the Eighth Prince and Oigimi one after the other she had wanted to throw herself into the river; because she lived on, she has been given the day of seeing her mistress received in the capital. Another gentlewoman answered her, and the party's plain relief at leaving Uji is briefly drawn. After this Naka no Kimi looks alone at the moon and speaks her own fear of what is to come.
Arifureba is if one lives on. Ureshiki se is a glad occasion, and se, a shoal, belongs with the river and leads to Ujigawa in the second half. The point of the poem is that the u of mi o u, my wretched self, is also the u of Ujigawa, so that a hard life and a place name are bound by sound. Mashikaba is contrary to fact. The old woman's frank gladness makes this a rare poem of bright tone within the Uji chapters.
- Author
-
Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
-
Genji Monogatari
- Other
-