人はいさわれはわすれす日をふれと
秋の夕暮ありしあふこと
秋の夕暮ありしあふこと
- Roma-ji
-
Hito wa isa ware wa wasurezu hi o furedo aki no yūgure arishi au koto
- English Translation
-
As for you, who knows?
But I shall not forget it,
though the days go by—
that meeting of ours that came
in the autumn evening dusk
- Meaning
- I cannot say about you, but I will never forget, however many days go by, the meeting we had that autumn evening.
- Commentary
-
20 Autumn Dusk
Two or three days after their exchange about the reed wind, at dusk, the prince unexpectedly drove his carriage straight into her grounds and stepped down. Izumi Shikibu had never yet let him see her by daylight and felt terribly embarrassed, but there was nothing to be done. The prince chatted of this and that and went home. Days passed after that, and there was no word from him at all, which made her uneasy.
The woman is Izumi Shikibu, daughter of Ōe no Masamune and, as the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, mother of Koshikibu no Naishi. The Prince of the Dazaifu is Prince Atsumichi, fourth son of Emperor Reizei, so called because he served as Governor-General of the Dazaifu.
When Izumi Shikibu's "Tsurezure to aki no higoro no furu mama ni omoishirasenu ayashikarishi mo" arrived with the words "So that is what people are like," the prince wrote, "I have been out of touch lately, but still," and returned this poem.
Izumi Shikibu felt how fragile it all was, and that with no one to rely on, consoling herself in the world through such trifling exchanges of verse was, when she thought about it, rather dismaying. Meanwhile the eighth month came, and to relieve her idleness she went on retreat to Ishiyama Temple.
The opening lines mean "I do not know about you, but I do not forget," where "isa" expresses uncertainty about another's heart. Setting "you" against "I," he answers her "I have come to know" by declaring that his heart has not changed.
The remaining lines mean "though days pass, the meeting we had that autumn evening," taking up her "as the days pass" and "that strange visit" and renaming that evening visit as a precious meeting of their own. Ending on a noun, the poem leaves the unforgettable evening lingering in the air.
- Author
- Prince Atsumichi
- Source
- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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