いささめに吹く風にやはなびくべき
野分すぐしし君にやはあらぬ
野分すぐしし君にやはあらぬ
- Roma-ji
-
Isasame ni fuku kaze ni ya wa nabikubeki nowaki sugushishi kimi ni ya wa aranu
- English Translation
-
Should you lean before
a wind that blows so lightly
and for so short a
while — you, who have weathered the
great gales of autumn before
- Meaning
- Should you lean before a wind that blows so lightly and so briefly — you, who have weathered the great autumn gales?
- Commentary
-
170 A Body That Leans
While the Consultant Korehira held the rank of Captain, he served as steward to the late Prince of the Ministry of Ceremonial, and being constantly in attendance there he was on familiar terms with the household. Coming away from the palace one day he caught a chill and fell ill. The Lady of Hyōe prepared medicinal wine and something to eat and sent them to him. In his reply he said how glad he was of her enquiry, and that it was extraordinary that one should catch such a complaint; and added "Aoyagi no ito naranedomo harukaze no fukeba katayoru wagami narikeri". Her reply was "Isasame ni fuku kaze ni ya wa nabikubeki nowaki sugushishi kimi ni ya wa aranu". That is the whole of the section.
The Consultant Korehira is Fujiwara no Korehira, who rose to that office; a Captain was a second officer of the Palace Guards. The late Prince of the Ministry of Ceremonial headed that ministry, and a steward managed the affairs of such a household. The Lady of Hyōe takes her name from the Palace Guards.
The setting is the moment his reply reached her.
What prompted it is his, "Aoyagi no ito naranedomo harukaze no fukeba katayoru wagami narikeri", about leaning before the spring wind.
This reply closes the hundred and seventieth section. The prose passes no judgement; the section consists of the exchange alone.
The first word means for a moment only, in passing — she recasts the wind he named as a slight thing.
The question that follows is rhetorical: should he lean before it? He should not. His own word for leaning is thrown straight back.
The autumn gale of the fourth line is the violent wind of that season, set against the spring breeze: a light wind and a great one.
The closing question is rhetorical too: is he not that man? One who has weathered such gales cannot be bent by a spring breeze. To a man who likened his illness to a willow in the wind she answers that this is too weak a figure, and puts her wishes for his recovery into an argument.
- Source
- Yamato Monogatari
- Other
-
- On the peak where the white clouds come to rest I have been left behind here and this is a world that lies quite outside what I intended
- I am no green thread of willow — and yet, when the spring wind blows, this self of mine turns out to be one that leans away to one side
- The fire that burns in- side a heart no one knows of sends up no smoke at all: it only smoulders on and smoulders, and is not seen
- On the peak of Fuji there is a fire that never goes out — and yet yours only smoulders: that, it seems is a cold heart after all