Tamadare no uchi to kakuru wa itodoshiku kage o miseji to omou narikeri

English Translation

Withdrawing behind
the jewelled blind means only
this, and more and more
that you have made up your mind
not to let me see your face

Meaning

Withdrawing behind the jewelled blind means only this, and more so than ever: that you have made up your mind not to let me see you.

Commentary

65 Do You Mean Me to Die

The fifth son of the Nan'in house was Governor of Mikawa. He fell in love with the Lady of Iyo, who lived in the Jōkyōden. When he sent word that he wished to visit, she replied that she was about to go up to the palace to wait on the Lady of the Bedchamber, and he sent "Tamadare no uchi to kakuru wa itodoshiku kage o miseji to omou narikeri". He also composed "Nageki nomi shigeki miyama no hototogisu kogakure ite mo ne o nomi zo naku". When at last he reached her, he was coldly told to go home for that day, and composed "Shine tote ya tori mo aezu wa yarawaruru ito ikigataki kokochi koso sure". Her reply to this was said to have been a good one, but it is not known. Again, on a snowy night, she talked with him and then, saying the night was late, sent him off; he had gone part of the way when the snow grew too heavy to go on, and he came back to find the door barred against him, and stayed where he was, composing "Ware wa sa wa yuki furu sora ni kiene to ya tachikaeredomo akenu itado wa". The woman said afterwards that since he composed poems like that and spoke with such feeling, she had wondered what to do and had looked through the door — but his face, after all, would not do. That is the whole of the section.
The fifth son of the Nan'in house served as Governor of Mikawa, the head of that province's administration. The Jōkyōden was one of the halls of the women's quarters, ranked next after Kokiden. The Lady of Iyo lived there.
The setting is the moment after he sent word that he wished to visit and she answered that she was going up to the palace.
What prompted the poem was that refusal, made on the grounds of her service at court.
He followed it with another poem, and in time reached her — only to be sent away again.

The first phrase is an ornamental way of naming a blind, and it leads into the word that follows.
Withdrawing behind it is how he restates her going up to the palace: not an errand but a retreat behind a screen.
The third line means more and more so: he could not see her before, and now still less.
The closing has the tone of something realised: so that was the intention. He converts her duty at court into a deliberate refusal to be seen, and that one word carries the whole refusal to take her excuse at face value.

Source

Yamato Monogatari

Other