Okuyama no omoiyari dani kanashiki ni mata amagumo no kakaru nani nari

English Translation

To think of him in
the deep mountains is grief
enough; and now, on top
of that, this cloud of heaven,
this nun's veil — what does it mean?

Meaning

To think of him gone into the deep mountains is grief enough; and now, on top of it, a cloud of heaven — a nun's habit — settles there too. What does it mean?

Commentary

25 The Death of Emperor Murakami and Kaneie's Promotion

The fifth month came. Past the tenth there was the matter of the Emperor's illness, and before the outcry had well begun he died, some time after the twentieth. The Crown Prince acceded at once. The man who had been Assistant of the Crown Prince's household was now spoken of as Head Chamberlain, and there was such a noise about it that the grief was left to the world at large while in this house one heard of nothing but congratulation. Answering all that gave her some sense of being like other people, though her private mind was as it had always been, and everything about her was noisy in a way quite opposite to her feeling. Hearing talk of the tomb and the rest, she thought with sorrow of what those who had enjoyed the Emperor's favor must be feeling. When some days had passed she wrote to the lady of the Jōganden to ask how she did, and added a poem. The answer was very sorrowful. The forty-nine days ended and the seventh month came. A young Guards officer who had served the Emperor, still young and with no sign of any trouble on his mind, abandoned parents and wife alike, climbed up into the mountains and became a monk. While people were exclaiming at it and calling it pitiful, word came that his wife too had become a nun. Since the author had exchanged letters with her before, she wrote to condole, finding it very sad and astonishing; and an answer came back at once. That too was very sad.
The author was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tomoyasu. The Emperor is Murakami, who died in the fifth month of the fourth year of Kōhō. The man who had been Assistant of the Crown Prince's household is Kaneie, third son of Fujiwara no Morosuke; the accession made him Head Chamberlain, and he would rise to be regent and chancellor. The lady of the Jōganden was Morosuke's daughter and a consort of the late Emperor, and Kaneie's sister; the text gives no name, and she is taken to be Fujiwara no Tōshi. Neither the Guards officer who became a monk nor his wife who became a nun is named. A marginal note in the base text identifies the acceding Crown Prince as Enyū, but the emperor who acceded in the fourth year of Kōhō was Reizei.
It is the seventh month of the fourth year of Kōhō, after the forty-nine days, and the places are the author's dwelling and the house of the woman who had become a nun.
The Guards officer who had served the Emperor had left both parents and wife, gone up into the mountains and become a monk; and now word came that his wife had taken vows as well. Since they had exchanged letters before, the author wrote this to condole, finding it pitiful and astonishing.
The woman answered at once with "Yama fukaku irinishi hito mo tazunuredo nao amagumo no yoso ni koso nare." The narrative closes the section by remarking that this too was very sad.

The opening names the deep mountains, that is, the mountains into which the husband climbed to take his vows. The second line means that merely to think of it, and its particle marks the least case, preparing for what is added. The third line pauses, and the fourth turns with the word for again toward a second misfortune. The cloud named there is the cloud of heaven and also carries the word for a nun, and the poem turns on it: the image of cloud settling on the mountain into which the husband went carries the news that the wife has taken vows as well. The close asks what such a thing can mean, ending the astonishment as a question. Mountain and cloud make a natural pairing, and yet each word here signifies the renunciation of the world, so that the two departures are gathered into a single scene. Though a poem of condolence, it offers no consoling word and states only the shock — which preserves exactly the note of a message written on first hearing.

Author

The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna

Source

Kagero Nikki

Other