Atsumekoshi madonohotaruno hikarimote omoishiyorimo mioterasukana

English Translation

By the light of fireflies
gathered at my window
through all those years,
more brightly than I had thought
my own life is lit up

Meaning

By the light of the fireflies I gathered at my window, my own life is lit more brightly than I ever thought it would be.

Commentary

Book Thirteen: Kyo no Hikage

On the fifteenth of the third month of Shoo 1 the accession was held at the government office. At this period the Minister of the Left Moritada of Kaon'in was regent; afterwards came Ieoto of Konoe, then the Minister of the Left Tadanori of Kujo, then Konoe again, and later Kankion'in and others, so that the office changed hands very often. Since the abdicated emperor was now called the new retired emperor, there were three retired sovereigns in the world at once, which was a rare thing. The emperor's mother was raised to the third rank, and a sister of hers who attended her was secretly favoured by the emperor. Some whispered of the precedent of Higashi Nijoin, though she can hardly have carried herself so openly. A daughter of Kinmori, the mother's elder brother, had also been brought up in attendance, and she too was not a stranger to him. Her father had wished to send her formally, but a daughter of the Major Counselor Sanekane of Saionji entered first, so there was no competing. Her entry took place on the second of the sixth month of that year, her robing ceremony being held that same night. It had been talked of in the previous reign but had somehow not come about, and that it should happen so soon now, some said sourly, showed that there had been an intention all along. This lady's mother was a daughter of the Inner Minister Michinari of Sanjo Bomon. Her attendants were chosen from among the best and everything was prepared with great splendour, following, it seems, the precedent of Omiya-in's entry. Since she too became a daughter of the retired emperor, Higashi Nijoin tied her sash, and at the appointed hour she rode in a Chinese-eaved carriage attended by ten nobles, more than ten courtiers and twenty outriders with torches, with ten carriages of ladies following. Toward dusk that day the Head Chamberlain Tamekane brought a letter, which the emperor had written himself. It was on crimson thin paper, wrapped in paper of the same kind. The regent is said to have remarked that he did not know how such a thing should be wrapped, and, hearing that someone at Kazan knew, sent for him to do the wrapping. The consort wore stiffened sappanwood over a lined robe, a deep-lined under-robe, a deep sappanwood outer robe, a red Chinese jacket, deep-dyed trousers and a printed train; the ladies were dressed to match. When she arrived, the Assistant Controller Toshimitsu conveyed the permission for a hand-drawn carriage; courtiers drew the carriage in, and her elder brother the Middle Counselor Kinhira served as her steward. The lady of the second rank presented the coverlet, trays were brought, and she went up to the sleeping chamber. On the eighth the emperor came for the formal showing of the apartments, and the sleeves put out were especially fine. On the evening of the tenth there was a viewing, and on the fourteenth the emperor came again and drank there for the first time. On the twentieth of the eighth month she was raised to empress. She had gone beforehand to the Imadegawa house, where the ceremonies were reproduced and she received them in great state. Her father, though his final rank was assured, still stood low at that moment, so that her smooth elevation to empress was seen as a mark of boundless favour. Omiya-in, the senior retired emperor and Higashi Nijoin all came to see it. On the eighth of the eleventh month of that year the empress's father was made commander of the Right, and on the twenty-fifth raised to senior second rank. The thanksgiving and the Gosechi dances filled the season with noise. In the twelfth month the emperor's mother received a retired empress's title: the proclamation of junior empress came in the morning and by evening of the same day she was called Genkimon'in. The year turned to Shoo 2, and on the twenty-third of the third month there was a filial progress to the Toba villa. The senior retired emperor had been there beforehand, had the pond cleared of weeds and polished up, and floated the great Chinese boats; there was music and dancing on the twenty-fourth. On the third of the third month of the previous year a prince had been born to a daughter of the Consultant Tsuneuji, and he was made crown prince and adopted as the empress's son. The abdicated emperor, who had many sons of his own, had hoped for the position and found it hard to be passed over. About the fourth and fifth of the third month of Shoo 3 the lion and dog images before the Shishinden split down the middle; divination was performed and it was said that blood would flow, so that everyone was alarmed. On the night of the ninth three or four fearsome warriors rode in through the Uemon gate into the palace enclosure, climbed up, and stood at the door of a serving woman's room. A tall and terrible man in scarlet-laced armour asked where the emperor slept. The emperor was in the empress's apartments and fled secretly to a side wing, then went to the Kasuga residence disguised as a woman in very poor dress. An attendant carried out the regalia, and a serving woman fled with the lute and the wagon. The crown prince was carried on foot to the Tokiwai residence by Azechi of the empress's household. The man was called Asahara. He killed himself on the cushion in the sleeping chamber; his eldest son killed himself within the curtains of the Shishinden, and his younger brother beneath the legs of the great chair. At first light the emperor and crown prince returned quietly by carriage, and about midday went again to the Kasuga residence. As the Rokuhara authorities pursued the matter, the Consultant and Middle Captain Sanemori of Sanjo was arrested as well, and there was talk that the middle retired emperor had known of it, which was spoken of in the worst terms. The empress's elder brother, the Provisional Major Counselor Kinhira, said before the senior retired emperor that the Zenrinji lord must have been party to it, resenting that Go-Saga's testament had been set aside and the present emperor installed by the east, and he came near to citing the precedent of the Joukyu rising. The senior retired emperor was distressed and said, with tears, that it could not be so, that people readily make out what is not true, and that it was dreadful to think what the late retired emperor's spirit would feel. After a letter swearing that he had known nothing was sent east, the matter quieted. At the beginning of the ninth month the middle retired emperor took the tonsure. At the Zenrinji residence he soon began copying the Lotus Sutra according to the strict rule, and for a time, meaning to become a Zen monk, he wore a green robe with a Zen surplice. He was forty-one, and his religious name was Kongokaku. Shin Yomeimon'in and the other women he had favoured, the lady of the gallery, Sanuki of the second rank and the rest, remained in the now silent residence, some taking vows, some returning to their families, so that all was scattered and forlorn. The daughter of the prince of Central Affairs had never stood high in his favour, so that at his renunciation there was no particular parting for her. Placed in a remote part of the upper residence at Zenrinji, she lived in loneliness, and no one came to speak with her. A middle captain of the Minamoto line, who served closely at the retired emperor's court and whose house stood nearby, took it upon himself to keep watch at her apartments from time to time, which her women thought most kind. She was then at the height of her beauty, and it was felt a waste that no one was there to admire her. About the seventh month, on a night of rough wind, wild lightning and thunder, more frightening than usual, there was no capable man about, and everyone high and low was frightened and at a loss. The cloistered emperor had been at the Kameyama villa for some time, so that not a sound of anyone was to be heard nearby. As she gazed at a sky black as ground ink, the middle captain arrived wet through, with one or two retainers carrying bows, and said that he would keep watch and would himself be in the guardroom, at which they took some comfort. Leaning on the balustrade of the gallery outside her room, in a soft incense-dyed hunting robe and pale trousers, he talked quietly and stayed on until the night was far gone, so that from within the blinds they answered him now and then. Toward dawn, when the curtain had been drawn up and she had lain down, a man lay down beside her as though it were his right. Looking up and wondering whether she dreamed, she heard him say that he had loved her for years, had told himself it was presumptuous and impossible, and could bear it no longer, and asked only to rest his heart a little; it was the middle captain. She found it hateful and bitter, and her tears fell. But as he was already close, and she was too gentle in her manner to be resisted, he had his way, sudden and pitiless though he knew it to be. Thinking how boundless her wretchedness was, and resenting even her fate in a former life, she wept aloud, which made her more touching still. The bell and the cocks that startled the dream he had scarcely had could not make him leave, so full was his heart, and he lingered.
The emperor is Fushimi, son of the senior retired emperor Go-Fukakusa. The new retired emperor is the abdicated Go-Uda, and the middle retired emperor is Kameyama, who takes the tonsure in this book with the religious name Kongokaku. The senior retired emperor is Go-Fukakusa. Higashi Nijoin was the second daughter of Saneuji of Saionji and had been Go-Fukakusa's empress; Omiya-in was Saneuji's daughter and the mother of Go-Fukakusa and Kameyama. The emperor's mother receives her title in this book as Genkimon'in, and her elder brother was the Major Counselor Kinmori. The lady who entered the palace was the daughter of the Major Counselor Sanekane of Saionji; her mother was a daughter of the Inner Minister Michinari of Sanjo Bomon, and her elder brother was the Middle Counselor Kinhira. Sanekane was the son of the chancellor Kinsuke and grandson of Saneuji of Tokiwai. The prince of Central Affairs is Prince Munetaka, Go-Saga's eldest son, who went east as shogun; his daughter appears in this book. The middle captain was of the Minamoto line and was called Arifusa; he rose in the end to Inner Minister. The Head Chamberlain Tamekane was the son of Tameuji's younger brother Tamenori and a man of the way of poetry. Shin Yomeimon'in was a daughter of the Konoe house and had been the middle retired emperor's consort; the Consultant and Middle Captain Kanetsugu of Matsudono also appears.
After the middle retired emperor took the tonsure in the ninth month of Shoo 3, the daughter of the prince of Central Affairs was placed in a remote part of the upper residence at Zenrinji, where she lived in loneliness. She was then at the height of her beauty, and her women felt it a waste that no one was there to admire her.
A middle captain of the Minamoto line, who served closely at the retired emperor's court and whose house stood nearby, took it upon himself to keep watch at her apartments from time to time. He was called Arifusa; he was a man of ability, was much advanced in later years, and rose in the end to Inner Minister.
Afterwards he sent letters often, which she found hateful and disagreeable, yet such things do not end there, and matters went further still. When her condition began to show, he grew alarmed, prepared a quiet and pleasant place near Shirakawa on the pretext that it belonged to her nurse, and had her taken there, where a child was born.
This is from a set of a hundred poems he presented about the Gen'o era. The poem quoted before it, "Kuraiyama noborihatetemo mineniouru matsunikokoroo naonokosukana", belongs to a set composed while he held high rank.
He was called Arifusa, and the narrator, remarking that his later life was quite unlike his youth, closes her account of him with this poem.
The narrative then turns to Shin Yomeimon'in in her idleness at a wing of the Zenrinji residence, and the book closes with the narrator's remark that although telling such things leaves her no escape from the sin of a loose tongue, it may serve as a precedent by which the failings of people now living are forgiven.

The first line means gathered and brought along, with a verb of coming that implies an accumulation over many years. The second refers to the old story of a poor student who gathered fireflies at his window for a lamp by which to read, so that the insects at the window stand for study. The particle in the third line means by means of that light. In the lower lines the verb is to illuminate, holding together the literal work of a firefly's light and the sense that learning has made his life shine; the comparison says that it has come to more than he expected, that in the days when he sat reading he could never have imagined such advancement. The final particle is exclamatory. One old story is set down and its light carried through to the end, and the point of the poem is the shift by which the firefly's glow moves from a light to read by to a light that illuminates a life. Where the previous poem speaks of a heart unsatisfied at the summit of rank, this says that he has come further than he thought, so that the same man's one subject is set out from two directions.

Author

Minamoto no Arifusa

Source

Masukagami

Other