Kotowari no ori to wa miredo sayo fukete kaku wa shigure no furi wa hatsu beki

English Translation

I see the occasion
is reasonable enough;
and yet, the night deep,
must you go out and be gone
while the cold rain falls like this?

Meaning

I grant the errand is a reasonable one; and yet, with the night far gone and the cold rain falling like this, must you go?

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 late at night about the tenth month of the first year of Tentoku, and the place is the author's dwelling.
Kaneie was making to go out on 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; in her astonishment the poem came to her lips.
With it the section closes. After the passage on the decline of the woman of Machi no Kōji, the account moves on to the exchange of long poems.

The opening means an occasion founded in reason, an errand that cannot be helped, and the poem begins by conceding his case. The second line turns against it: so I see it, and yet. The third means that the night is far gone, pointing at the unreasonableness of the hour. The fourth means: that the cold rain should be coming down like this. The close asks whether he means to see the downpour out, that is, to go off into it, and leaves the question hanging rather than pressing it to a conclusion. Granting the reason and objecting on the ground of feeling is quite unlike the other poems of this section, which are built out of pivot words traded back and forth; with the ornament stripped away, plain astonishment stands where the wit had been. As the narrative says, the poem came to her of itself — it was not a verse composed to be sent.

Author

The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

Source

Kagero Nikki

Other