山へには車にのりて行へきを
たかせの舟はいかゝよるへき
たかせの舟はいかゝよるへき
- Roma-ji
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Yamabe ni wa kuruma ni norite yukubeki o takase no fune wa ikaga yorubeki
- English Translation
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To the mountainside
we ought to go by carriage, so
how, then, should I steer
a little river boat, I wonder,
and bring it to your shore?
- Meaning
- To the mountainside one should go by carriage; how, then, am I to bring a river boat alongside?
- Commentary
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32 The Promise to View Autumn Leaves
On the evening of their exchange on the frosty morning, the prince came and invited her: "How lovely the autumn leaves on the mountains must be now. Come, let us go and see them," and Izumi Shikibu replied, "That would be delightful." But when the day came, the prince sent word: "Today I must stay shut in for a day of abstinence, which is a great pity. Once it is over, without fail." That night the winter showers fell harder than usual, with a sound as though every leaf on the trees would be stripped away. Waking, Izumi Shikibu murmured to herself, "before the wind," and spent the rest of the night regretting that the leaves must all have fallen and wishing they had gone to see them the day before.
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. A day of abstinence was a period of staying shut indoors and keeping oneself pure in order to avoid misfortune, according to the art of yin and yang.
Izumi Shikibu's "Takasebune haya kogiide yo sawaru koto sashikaerinishi ashima waketari" arrived. It alluded to the hindrance of the other day, but the prince seems to have forgotten that, for he sent back this poem.
Izumi Shikibu replied with "Momijiba no mi ni kuru made mo chirazaraba takase no fune no ikaga kogaren," and so the day came to an end.
The opening lines mean "to the mountainside, riding in a carriage," carrying on the talk of viewing the leaves. The third line means "one ought to go," with an auxiliary of expectation and an adversative particle.
The lower verses ask "how should the river boat draw near?" a question built on "how" and an auxiliary of expectation. Taking her "river boat" literally, he answers with mock innocence that one cannot use a boat to view leaves in the mountains. Having forgotten the matter of the hindrance and replying as though continuing their talk about the leaves, the poem portrays, with a touch of comedy, how their thoughts crossed.
- Author
- Prince Atsumichi
- Source
- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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Takasebune haya kogiide yo sawaru koto sashikaerinishi ashima waketari
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Momijiba no mi ni kuru made mo chirazaraba takase no fune no ikaga kogaren