Ureshisa ya katashiku sode ni tsutsumuran kyō machietaru Uji no hashihime

English Translation

Is it her gladness
within the sleeve she spreads alone
that she wraps away?
having waited, today she greets—
the Maiden of Uji Bridge.

Meaning

Is she wrapping her gladness in the single sleeve she spreads to sleep alone—the Maiden of Uji Bridge, who today at last greets the one she waited for?

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitation Poems 742

Headnote: "When the Lay Priest Former Regent and Chancellor had people compose poems at Uji in Kenkyū 7."
This is the first poem of the sequence on Uji. The speaker wonders whether the Maiden of Uji Bridge, having at last welcomed the one she awaited, wraps her gladness in the single sleeve she spreads. According to the headnote, it was composed when the Lay Priest Former Regent and Chancellor had people compose poems at Uji in Kenkyū 7.
The author was a son of Fujiwara no Takasue and rose to Provisional Major Counselor.
The scene is the day of the visit to Uji in Kenkyū 7, and the place is beside Uji Bridge over the Uji River.
The direct occasion is the gathering at Uji in Kenkyū 7 (1196), at which the Lay Priest Former Regent and Chancellor had people compose poems. "The Lay Priest Former Regent and Chancellor" of the headnote is a title for one who had taken holy orders and had formerly been Regent and Chancellor.
The source poem is anonymous, in the Kokin wakashū: "Samushiro ni koromo katashiki koyoi mo ya ware o matsuran Uji no hashihime." The Maiden of Uji Bridge was a goddess associated with the bridge, sung as a woman waiting for her lover.

In the first line, "ureshisa ya," "ya" is an interrogative particle concluded by "ran" in the third line. The poem opens by imagining the Maiden's joy.
The second line, "katashiku sode ni," means "in the sleeve spread alone," the single sleeve of one's own robe spread for sleeping alone. Taking up "koromo katashiki" of the source poem, it shows the solitary sleep of one who waits.
The third line, "tsutsumuran," means "is she wrapping it?" and the sense breaks after the third line. The expression of wrapping gladness in a sleeve has a precedent in an anonymous poem of the Kokin wakashū, "Ureshiki o nani ni tsutsumamu karakoromo."
The fourth line, "kyō machietaru," means "having today at last welcomed the one awaited." The Maiden who waited night after night in the source poem is said to have received her visitor today, turning the visit to Uji into joy.
The last line, "Uji no hashihime," ends on a noun. Using the last line of the source poem unchanged, it reverses a lament of waiting into a song of joyful welcome. The next poem, 743, sings of "the Guardian of Uji Bridge," so two poems on Uji Bridge stand together.

Author

Fujiwara no Takafusa

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other