うち渡し世に許しなき関川を
みなれそめけむ名こそ惜しけれ
みなれそめけむ名こそ惜しけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Uchiwatashi yo ni yurushi naki Sekigawa o
minaresomekemu na koso oshikere - English Translation
-
Look where I will, the
world gives us no leave—and yet
the name of having
grown used to the barrier
river is a thing to grieve
- Meaning
- Look where I will, the world gives us no leave, and yet the name of having grown used to the barrier river is a thing to grieve over.
- Commentary
-
Part Three: Yadorigi
In Kaoru's household there was a gentlewoman in the service of his mother, the Third Princess, known as Azechi no Kimi, with whom he had a quiet connection. Once, when he made to leave early, she spoke this poem in reproach. He answered with a defence of his feeling, but his mind had all along been on Naka no Kimi, and this affair was not a serious one. Scenes like this show, from the side, a man who cannot hold his feeling for Naka no Kimi in check.
Sekikawa is the river at the Osaka barrier, a place name in poetry that calls up meeting. Minare carries both minare, growing used to water, and minare, growing used to the sight of a person. Watashi belongs with the river, and seki, to dam, sounds in seki, barrier. The complaint that the talk goes about while the tie is unacknowledged sets out the position of a woman of low rank very clearly, and there is real feeling under the technique.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
-
Ōkata ni kikamashi mono o higurashi no
koe urameshiki aki no kure kana - Next Poem
-
Fukakarazu ue wa miyuredo Sekigawa no
shita no kayoi wa tayuru mono ka wa