宮城野の小萩がもとと知らませば
露も心を分かずぞあらまし
露も心を分かずぞあらまし
- Roma-ji
-
Miyagino no kohagi ga moto to shiramaseba
tsuyu mo kokoro o wakazu zo aramashi - English Translation
-
Had I known that it
was rooted in the hagi
of Miyagi Field,
the dew would not have made a
division in its own heart
- Meaning
- Had I known it was rooted in the hagi of Miyagi Field, the dew would not have divided its heart at all.
- Commentary
-
Part Three: Azumaya
The Sakon no Shosho's reply to Chujo no Kimi's reproach. Had he known the girl was of imperial blood, he says, he would not have changed—a convenient claim. With this exchange the match is finished, and the mother takes Ukifune to the Nijo residence. There Niou found her and pressed her, and she had to be moved in haste to a hidden house at Sanjo.
Miyagino is a place name in poetry famous for its hagi, and the sound miya carries the imperial house. "Rooted in the hagi" is the root of that plant, that is, high birth. The dew is the Shosho himself, and "would not have divided its heart" is to make no distinction. He takes over her hagi and dew properly enough, but his real ground for choosing—rank and money—stands out so plainly that the poem is no defence at all.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Other
-
- A figure to be put out at the shallows of the river of rites— who would trust in such a thing as a shadow at her side
- The upper leaves of the small hagi I had roped off are not disturbed— what dew, then, has come to turn the colour of the low leaves
- How wholly glad I would be, if I could believe that this were a place somewhere apart from the world, and not a part of it all
- Even if I must look for a place that is not in this bitter world, I would find some way to see you in the height of your bloom