なくさむる君もありとはおもへとも
猶夕くれは物そ悲しき
猶夕くれは物そ悲しき
- Roma-ji
-
Nagusamuru kimi mo ari to wa omoedomo nao yūgure wa mono zo kanashiki
- English Translation
-
Though I know that you
are there to bring me comfort,
and I trust in you,
still, when evening falls,
somehow my heart is sad
- Meaning
- Though I know that you are there to comfort me, still, when evening falls, a vague sadness fills my heart.
- Commentary
-
37 The Sadness of Evening
After returning from his place of abstinence, Izumi Shikibu still could not make up her mind to go to the prince's residence and passed the days lost in thought. The leaves that had shown so many colors were all gone, and though the sky was bright and clear, the light of the slowly sinking sun looked forlorn, so as usual she sent the prince a poem.
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.
On a winter evening when every leaf had fallen, moved by the forlorn light of the setting sun, Izumi Shikibu composed this poem.
From the prince came back "Yūgure wa tare mo sa nomi zo omōyuru machiwabu kimi zo hito ni masareru."
The opening lines mean "that there is you to comfort me," acknowledging the prince as her support. The third line means "though I think so," with an adversative particle.
The lower verses mean "still, the evening is somehow sad," with an adverb meaning "even so," a word conveying vague feeling, and an emphatic construction. She states frankly, in unadorned words, the loneliness of evening that remains even with someone to rely on, and the forlornness of waiting alone at home for the prince seeps through the poem.
- Author
- Izumi Shikibu
- Source
- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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Omou koto nakute sugushishi ototoi o kinō to kyō ni nasu yoshi mo gana
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Yūgure wa tare mo sa nomi zo omōyuru machiwabu kimi zo hito ni masareru