くれ竹のよゝのふる事おもほゆる
昔かたりは我のみそせん
昔かたりは我のみそせん
- Roma-ji
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Kuretake no yoyo no furugoto omōyuru mukashigatari wa ware nomi zo sen
- English Translation
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Like the black bamboo
node by node, the olden tales
of age on age come back;
must I be the only one
left to tell of days gone by?
- Meaning
- Like the joints of the black bamboo, the old tales of age after age come back to me; shall I be the only one left to tell of days gone by?
- Commentary
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47 The Black Bamboo
After their exchange about the winter night, Izumi Shikibu and the prince passed the days consoling each other's loneliness, though when she thought about it, it was all a fragile thing. The prince, for reasons she could not guess, spoke forlornly of many things and wrote, "I wonder whether I can live on in this world much longer."
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. His principal wife was a daughter of Fujiwara no Naritoki, whose elder sister Seishi was a consort of the Crown Prince Okisada.
To the prince, who had written forlornly that he might not live long in this world, Izumi Shikibu answered with this poem.
From the prince came back "Kuretake no uki fushi shigeki yo no naka ni araji to zo omou shibashi bakari mo."
The first line, "of the black bamboo," works like a pillow word, leading through the bamboo's joints, "yo," to the homophone "yoyo," age after age. The second and third lines mean "the old tales of age upon age come to mind," the verb meaning to arise in thought unbidden.
The lower verses mean "I alone shall tell those tales of the past," sealed by an emphatic construction. If he were to leave this world, she says, she alone would be left to speak of their memories; taking his forlorn words to heart and voicing the grief of the one who would be left behind, she pleads with him to live.
- Author
- Izumi Shikibu
- Source
- Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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Fuyu no yo wa me sae kōri ni tojirarete akashigataki o akashikeru kana
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Kuretake no uki fushi shigeki yo no naka ni araji to zo omou shibashi bakari mo