我宿に尋ねてきませふみつくる
道も敎へんあひもみるへく
道も敎へんあひもみるへく
- Roma-ji
-
Waga yado ni tazunete kimase fumi tsukuru michi mo oshien ai mo mirubeku
- English Translation
-
Come and seek me out
here at my own dwelling place;
the road of making verse
I will teach you, so that we
may meet each other too
- Meaning
- Come and find me at my house; I will teach you the way of composing verse, and so we may meet as well.
- Commentary
-
41 Composing Chinese Verse
After their exchange about the first snow, Izumi Shikibu and the prince passed the days in light exchanges. Then a letter came from the prince: "We have grown so distant lately that I meant to come, but people are composing Chinese verse."
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 "Itomanami kimasazu wa ware yukan fumi tsukururan michi o shirabaya" arrived, the prince found it delightful and sent back this poem.
Later, on a morning when the frost lay whiter than usual, the prince wrote asking how she saw it, and she answered with poems about the frost.
The opening lines mean "come and visit my house," an honorific imperative, answering her "I shall go" by saying that he would gladly have her come.
The remaining lines mean "I will teach you the road of verse, so that we may meet," taking up her wordplay on "fumi" exactly, with auxiliaries of will and possibility. Taking her jest in earnest, he answers that if she comes to his residence he will teach her the way of verse and they can meet whenever they wish, renewing his long-standing invitation.
- Author
- Prince Atsumichi
- Source
- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
- Prev Poem
-
Itomanami kimasazu wa ware yukan fumi tsukururan michi o shirabaya
- Next Poem
-
Sayuru yo no kazu kaku shigi wa ware nare ya iku asashimo o okite mitsuran