菖蒲草かりにも来らむものゆゑに
閨のつまとや人の見るらむ
閨のつまとや人の見るらむ
- Roma-ji
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Ayamegusa kari ni mo kuramu mono yue ni neya no tsuma to ya hito no miruramu
- English Translation
-
Though you come but lightly,
as one who cuts the sweet flag,
for a passing while,
do people see me, then, as wife —
the eaves' edge of your bedchamber
- Meaning
- Though you come only lightly, as one comes to cut sweet flag, do people see me as your wife, like the eaves' edge of a bedchamber where the sweet flag hangs?
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 311
Drawing on the sweet flag thatched into the eaves at the Boys' Festival, the poet wonders whether people see her as the wife of a man who visits only casually. Playing "kari" as both cutting and passing, and "tsuma" as both the eaves' edge and wife, she expresses with wit her confusion at being taken for a true wife in a passing affair.
Poems 330 and 336 of this book also sing of sweet flag.
The first line, "ayamegusa" (sweet flag), names the plant thatched into the eaves at the Tango festival.
The second line, "kari ni mo kuramu," is a pivot word joining coming to "cut" (kari) sweet flag and coming "for a passing while" (kari), with the conjectural "ramu": he must come only casually.
The third line, "mono yue ni," uses the concessive "mono yue": even though it is so.
The fourth line, "neya no tsuma to ya," is a pivot word joining "tsuma" (edge) of the bedchamber eaves with "tsuma" (wife), and poses a question with "ya."
The final line, "hito no miruramu," closes "ya" with the attributive conjectural "ramu," a kakari-musubi: do people see me so?
- Author
- Izumi Shikibu
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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