Hashihime no katashikigoromo samushiro ni matsu yo munashiki uji no akebono

English Translation

The Lady of the Bridge
has spread her single robe
upon the narrow mat;
her night of waiting all in vain,
the dawn breaks at Uji

Meaning

The Lady of the Bridge has spread her single robe on the narrow mat, but her night of waiting has passed in vain, and dawn breaks over Uji.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 636

Headnote: "On the painting of the Uji River on the sliding panels of the Saishō Shitennō-in."
This is the eighth poem of the ice sequence. The word "ice" does not appear in it, however; it sings of the dawn at Uji that ends in vain the night of the Lady of the Bridge, who spread her single robe on a narrow mat to wait. According to the headnote, it was composed for the scene of the Uji River painted on the sliding panels of the Saishō Shitennō-in.
The author, "the Retired Emperor," is Retired Emperor Go-Toba. A son of Emperor Takakura, he governed as retired emperor after abdicating, established the Bureau of Poetry, and commanded the compilation of the Shin Kokin Wakashū.
The scene is dawn after a winter night, and the place is Uji in Yamashiro Province.
The direct occasion is composition of a poem to accompany the painting of the famous Uji River on the sliding panels of the Saishō Shitennō-in. The Saishō Shitennō-in was a votive temple built by Retired Emperor Go-Toba in Jōgen 1 (1207), whose panels were painted with famous places of the provinces and inscribed with poems by various poets.
The foundation poem is the anonymous Kokin Wakashū poem "Samushiro ni koromo katashiki koyoi mo ya ware o matsuramu Uji no hashihime."

The first line, "hashihime no," refers to the Lady of Uji Bridge, held to be the goddess who guards the bridge.
The second line, "katashikigoromo," refers to a robe with only one sleeve spread for sleeping alone, taking up "koromo katashiki" from the foundation poem.
The third line, "samushiro ni," means "on the narrow mat," taking the first line of the foundation poem as it stands.
The fourth line, "matsu yo munashiki," means "the night of waiting has passed in vain." The Lady's night, sung in the foundation poem as a figure waiting—"does she wait for me again tonight?"—is here a night that has ended in vain.
The last line, "uji no akebono," closes on a noun, naming the dawn at Uji after the night of waiting. Looking back on the Lady's night of waiting in the foundation poem from the dawn of the following morning, the poem lends a storylike passage of time to the painted scene of the Uji River. Following 611 in this book, which sang of the Lady layering frost, the Lady of the Bridge appears again, and the next poem, 637, also closes with "uji no hashihime."

Author

Go-Toba In

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other