Kazukisuru amanosumikao sokotodani yumeiunatoya meokuwasekemu

English Translation

She who dives for weed —
of the fisher's dwelling place
not one word, not there
never say it, and for that
was the seaweed given you

Meaning

That the diving fisher's dwelling should never be pointed out — surely that was why the seaweed was given you to eat.

Commentary

84 When I Had Withdrawn to My Home

While the author is staying at her own house, people gossip about the courtiers who come calling. She reflects that since she has no reputation for strict seclusion the talk is only to be expected, and she will not have visitors turned away with word that she is out, whether they come by day or by night. Still, since it grows tiresome, she does not let her present address be generally known; only the Middle Captain of the Left, Tsunefusa, and Tadamasa know it. Then Norimitsu, Lieutenant of the Left Gate Guards, comes and tells her that the day before the Consultant Captain had pressed him hard — surely you know where your sister is, tell me — and that though he denied all knowledge he was badgered until he nearly burst out laughing, and in desperation seized some seaweed from the tray and stuffed it into his mouth, which was how he got through without giving her away. She makes him promise to say nothing.

Later, deep in the night, someone hammers loudly at the gate: a palace guard with a letter from Norimitsu. Tomorrow is the closing day of the sutra readings, the Consultant Captain is in ritual seclusion, and he is being pressed so hard that he cannot keep it up any longer — what should he do? He will do as she says. She sent back no letter, only a small piece of seaweed wrapped in paper.

Norimitsu is Tachibana no Norimitsu, whom the court spoke of as her brother; the Consultant Captain is Fujiwara no Tadanobu, and the Middle Captain of the Left is Minamoto no Tsunefusa.

The time is the period of her stay at home, and the place her own house.

Afterwards Norimitsu came and complained that he had been dragged about and questioned in earnest, and that it had been very hard on him — and why had she sent no reply at all, only a scrap of seaweed wrapped up? What sort of gift was that? Had she made some mistake? Seeing that the signal had not registered with him in the slightest, she said nothing, and wrote this poem on the edge of a sheet lying by the inkstone.

He took one look, said that if she was going to compose poems he would certainly not read it, and fled, waving it back at her. His horror of poetry carries straight over into the scene that follows, with "Kuzureyoru imosenoyamano nakanareba saraniyoshinono kawatodanimiji."

The first line, of diving for weed and shellfish, leads into the fisher of the second, who is at once a real diver and a figure for the speaker herself, living hidden as one who stays beneath the water. In the third line a particle of minimum degree forbids even the least: do not say so much as "there."

In the fourth line an adverb of absolute prohibition binds the verb — never say it — and the clause is left hanging on a doubtful "was that the meaning?" that carries into the close. Everything turns on the last line, where the word for edible seaweed is also the word for eye. The idiom for giving a signal with the eyes is laid over the literal act of giving him seaweed to eat, so that the poem re-reads Norimitsu's own boast — the mouthful that saved her address — as the origin of the signal. The final auxiliary of past conjecture holds her own act at arm's length, as if guessing at someone else's intention, and lets a light sarcasm settle over the man who missed it entirely.

Author

Sei Shōnagon

Source

Makura no Soshi

Other