Wondering whether
the face-bird's voice runs close to
the one I once heard,
I have parted the thickets
and come seeking it today

Meaning

Wondering whether the face-bird's voice runs close to the one I once heard, I have parted the thickets and come seeking it today.

Commentary

Part Three: Yadorigi

　Since Ben the nun had told him of Ukifune, Kaoru had gone on wanting to see the girl. On a day when he went down to look at the chapel at Uji, he came upon the party of Ukifune, who had stopped at the villa on her way back from a pilgrimage to Hatsuse, and with Ben's help he caught sight of her. Struck that her face was the living likeness of the dead Oigimi, he spoke this to himself. The Yadorigi chapter closes here, and the tale passes on to Azumaya.

　Kaodori is a bird whose identity is not clear; some take it for the cuckoo. Here the sound kao, face, is used to carry the resemblance of one face to another. Kikishi ni kayou ya asks whether the voice runs close to one heard long ago, and states his search for the elder sister's likeness. "Parting the thickets" is to push through grass to reach a place, giving the road to the ruined villa exactly as it was.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other