菊の露若ゆばかりに袖触れて
花のあるじに千代は譲らむ
花のあるじに千代は譲らむ
- Roma-ji
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Kiku no tsuyu wakayu bakari ni sode furete hana no aruji ni chiyo wa yuzuramu
- English Translation
-
Chrysanthemum dew—
just enough to feel young again
I touch with my sleeve,
and to the flower's own mistress
I yield the thousand years
- Meaning
- I will touch the chrysanthemum dew with my sleeve only enough to grow a little younger, and leave the thousand years of life to you, the mistress of these flowers.
- Commentary
-
8 The Chrysanthemum Floss
On the ninth day of the ninth month of Kankō 5 (1008), the Chrysanthemum Festival, a lady named Hyōbu came to Murasaki at the Tsuchimikado mansion bearing chrysanthemum floss. "Her Ladyship sends this especially for you," she said. "She bids you wipe away your age thoroughly."
"Her Ladyship" is Minamoto no Rinshi, Fujiwara no Michinaga's principal wife, daughter of the Minister of the Left Minamoto no Masanobu and mother of Empress Shōshi. Hyōbu is the name by which one of Rinshi's ladies was known.
It was believed that wiping oneself on the Chrysanthemum Festival with floss steeped in the dew and fragrance of chrysanthemums would banish old age. Murasaki composed this poem in thanks for Rinshi's gift.
She meant to return the floss with the poem attached, but was told that Her Ladyship had already gone back to her own rooms, so, with no one to give it to, she kept it. That night incense was tried before the Empress, and the narrative soon turns to the Empress's childbirth.
The opening lines mean "just enough to grow young again by the chrysanthemum dew," and the third line, "I touch with my sleeve," recasts the act of wiping oneself with the floss as a modest brush of the sleeve.
The lower verses resolve to yield the thousand years of long life to Rinshi, the mistress of the flowers. Taking up Rinshi's words about wiping away age, Murasaki modestly claims that a little rejuvenation is enough for her and returns the wish for longevity to the giver, a poem of careful courtesy.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Murasaki Shikibu Nikki
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