Today is the last
I shall see the capital—
and in this water
at the barrier, shall I
mirror my face once again
- Meaning
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Today is the last I shall see of the capital; and shall I ever mirror my face again in this water at the Ōsaka barrier?
- Commentary
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Volume Eleven: Koshigoe
This follows the killing of the boy. Munemori's small second son was dragged from his nurse's arms and beheaded, and five or six days later the nurse and another attendant threw themselves into the Katsura River, one carrying the head and the other the body.
Yoshitsune set out for Kamakura with Munemori and his elder son on the seventh of the fifth month of the second year of Genryaku. As the country of the capital fell away behind them, they came to the barrier at Ōsaka, and there Munemori composed this in tears.
On the road Yoshitsune took care to console him in small ways. Munemori pressed him again and again to see that his life at least was spared. Of course, said Yoshitsune; exile to a distant province or an island cannot be helped, but surely they will not take your life, and if it came to that I would trade my own service in this campaign to beg for it.
Ōsaka, the barrier's name, puns on ō, "to meet," as it always has. Looking at his reflection in the water of the barrier, he asks whether he will ever look at it there again.
Seki in sekimizu is the barrier and also carries seku, to dam back—the tears he cannot dam falling into the water where his face appears.
It is put as a question, and the answer is known. Munemori will meet Yoritomo at Kamakura, be pitied for his abjectness, and be beheaded in Ōmi on the way back to the capital. He crossed Ōsaka a second time; he did not reach the capital alive.
Of all the Taira, Munemori composes only this once. He is the man who in Volume Four seized Nakatsuna's horse, renamed it Nakatsuna, and had the name branded on it, bringing on Yorimasa's rising. A man drawn throughout as deaf to poetry composes a single verse after his house is destroyed, and the tale places it at the barrier called Meeting Hill.
miyako wo ba……as for the capital.
kyō wo kagiri……today being the last.
sekimizu……water at a barrier; with an echo of "to dam back."
Ōsaka……the barrier between Yamashiro and Ōmi; puns on "to meet."
kage……a form; a reflection.
utsusan……shall I reflect it?
Munemori……third son of Kiyomori and head of the house.
Genryaku 2……the year 1185.
fukushō……Munemori's small second son.
- Source
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Heike Monogatari
- Other
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