Ho ni idete iwaji ya sarani ōyoso no nabiku obana ni makasete mo mimu

English Translation

I will not put it
into the open — no, not
a word; I shall leave
it to the plume grass that bends
any way, and simply watch.

Meaning

I shall not bring it out into the open — not a word. I shall leave it to the plume grass that bends whichever way, and simply watch.

Commentary

11 Kaneie's Visits Return

In the seventh month, about the time of the wrestling festival, Kaneie sent over a set of old robes and a set of new ones, wrapped up, asking that they be made up for him. The sight of them made the author's head swim. An old-fashioned member of the household thought it a pity, but the more spirited ones gathered and settled it among themselves — the thing was absurd, and better to be spoken ill of for failing to do it — and sent the bundles back. Sure enough, word came that he was having them made up here and there about the town. On his side too the refusal must have seemed very unkind, for more than twenty days passed without any word. Then at some point a letter came, saying that he would like to come but felt too awkward, and that if there were some definite occasion he might venture, timidly. She meant to send no answer, but the household said it was too unkind, and so she sent a poem. A reply came by return, and when the messenger came again she sent another; and Kaneie, smoothing the matter over in words, appeared once more. Gazing out at the garden flowers blooming in their various colors, they exchanged poems that were, on both sides, reproaches. Then, late in the night, when the moon of the twentieth rose above the ridge and he showed signs of leaving, the author composed a poem, and Kaneie answered it and stayed. Afterward there was something like a typhoon, and two days later he came. When the author remarked that an ordinary man would have asked how she had fared in the wind the other day, he seemed to think she had a point, and without any fuss composed a poem. Four poems passed between them, and the author, in no mood to be beaten, answered him back. Perhaps people judged that she was entitled to say as much. Then again, about the tenth month, he made to go out on some business he said could not be put off; the rain was more than could be called a passing shower, and yet he still meant to go, and in her astonishment a poem came to her lips.
Kaneie was the third son of Fujiwara no Morosuke and at this time Assistant Commander of the Right Guards; he would rise to be regent and chancellor. The author was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tomoyasu. The old-fashioned person who speaks about the robes is an elderly gentlewoman of conservative views.
It is the seventh month of the first year of Tentoku, about the time of the wrestling festival, and the place is the author's dwelling.
More than twenty days had gone by without word since the robes were refused, when an awkwardly worded letter came from Kaneie. She meant to send no answer, but the household said it was too unkind, and she sent this poem.
A reply came by return: "Ho ni ideba mazu nabikinamu hanasusuki kochi chō kaze no fukamu manimani."

The phrase in the opening means that plume grass puts out its ears, and also that a feeling is brought into the open, and the whole poem rests on that double sense. The second line means that she will not speak of it at all, the particle lending the tone of a question put to herself. The third means commonplace, no more than ordinary. The plume grass of the fourth line bends whichever way the wind blows, and so figures a heart that will not hold to one direction. The close declares her intention to leave it so and merely watch, giving up resistance and yielding to whatever comes. The resentment built up over the affair of the robes is stated in the form of a declaration that she will not state it — and the poem breathes in the gap between saying nothing and putting it into verse. From here the exchanges of the section turn upon the ears of the grass and the grass itself.

Author

The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

Source

Kagero Nikki

Other