Ama no kawa nanuka o chigiru kokoro araba hoshiai bakari no kage o miyo to ya

English Translation

If you have a heart
that pledges to meet on the
seventh by the sky
river — is it that you bid me
see you as the stars meet, once?

Meaning

If you have it in you to pledge a meeting on the seventh by the river of heaven, do you mean that I am to see you only as the stars meet — once in the year?

Commentary

14 Kaneie's Friendship with Prince Akiakira

On the fifth of the seventh month, while the author was shut in for a long period of abstinence, word came from Kaneie that the day after next would be the meeting slope. She answered with a poem, and — whether he thought the tone had altered — Kaneie seemed to take a little more notice of her, and the months went by so. The woman of Machi no Kōji, whom she had found insufferable, was now, she heard, a laughing-stock, and that eased her mind. As for what had gone before, there was nothing to be done: hard as it was, it must be the poverty of her own destiny, she told herself, turning the matter over this way and that as the time passed. Kaneie, after his years as lesser counselor, rose to the fourth rank, left the privy chamber, and at the appointments received an office not to his liking. He seemed to find the world thoroughly distasteful, and since he went nowhere but on his rounds of visits, he would spend two or three days quite at leisure. About that time a poem came from the Prince who was head of that unwelcome office, and Kaneie answered it; three exchanges passed between them on the figure of thread. Later, from about the twentieth of the fifth month, the author moved to the place she had used before in order to avoid a period of mourning, and the Prince had moved to a house separated from hers by only a fence. Rain fell heavily into the sixth month, and everyone must have been shut in by it; her own lodging being a poor one, there was a commotion over the leaking roof, and a poem came from the Prince. Exchanges on the long rains and the muddy road of love followed, and after them others on the pink and the shore plover.
Kaneie was the third son of Fujiwara no Morosuke, and by this time had passed his years as lesser counselor and risen to the fourth rank; he would rise to be regent and chancellor. The author was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tomoyasu. The Prince is the head of the office in which Kaneie served as deputy; the text gives no name, and he is taken to be Prince Akiakira. The woman of Machi no Kōji likewise appears under that name only.
It is the fifth day of the seventh month of the fourth year of Tentoku, and the place is the author's dwelling.
While she was shut in for a long abstinence, word came from Kaneie that the day after next would be the meeting slope. This poem was her answer.
The narrative says that Kaneie, perhaps thinking her tone had changed, seemed to take a little more notice of her. The months pass, and after the decline of the woman of Machi no Kōji the account moves to the exchanges with the Prince.

The opening carries his date over into the world of the star festival, seizing on the fact that his day after next falls on the seventh of the seventh month, so that the date itself works like a pivot word. The second line means to pledge a meeting on the seventh, laying the single night of the star lovers over his promise. The third means: if that is what you intend. The fourth speaks of a figure seen only as the stars are seen to meet, that is, once in a year. The close asks whether that is what he bids her do, the particle giving the question something close to the force of a rhetorical one. Heavenly river, seventh day and meeting of stars are strung together as related words, and his offer to come is read instead as a proposal of one meeting a year. Spoken from a woman shut in and unable to stir, the irony tells.

Author

The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

Source

Kagero Nikki

Other