Un Sospiro~~

【光る君へ】第6回

Their unexpected meeting had left her unsettled. Unable to sleep, she cannot stop thinking about him. Murasaki Shikibu sits by candlelight pining. And that is when his letter arrives. Unfolding the pale rice paper, she immediately recognizes the first words of a poem, penned in Michinaga’s beautifully bold cursive.

ちはやぶる　神の斎垣も…　chihayaburu kami no igaki mo

The words are from a poem in the Tales of Ise. Back when I was in grad school, it was the incorrigible playboy hero from the tale, Ariwara no Narihira (825–880), that was said to be the model of Genji. So gorgeous was he said to be that a shrine maiden declared that she would transgress past the sacred fence if only to be alone with him.

I wonder if young people still send each other songs to convey their feelings to the person they are in love with? Back in the day, some people would even make an entire “mixed tape” to try and express their emotion to another person. I think this is like that.

In Japanese, a poem is called uta 歌. Uta means song. And waka 和歌 means a Japanese style song. In the video below, you can see the aristocratic lady singing a poem (it is the poem I wrote about last week, from the gossamer diary). Chinese poetry was referred to as kanshi 漢詩 which literally means Chinese poem —not song, for these were seldom sung in Japanese.

Anyway, kind of like an ear worm, the young Murasaki Shikibu recognizes those first words of the “song-poem” immediately. She hears it. And she knows this letter will be romantic. Chihayaburu is a “pillow word” (makura kotoba 枕詞), which is a “filler” word to amp up the tone of a poem—something often left untranslated. Pillow words has been compared to ancient Greek epithets, like the Rosy-fingered Dawn in Homer. It evokes a shining, shinto god. (On this site, they suggest it means something like “a thousand swift swords… going with the Greek theme).

ちはやぶる　神の斎垣も　越えぬべし　大宮人の　見まくほしさに

So much do I desire to be with this man I see from the city that I would traverse this sacred fence of the (angry, shining, jealous?) gods.

But Michinaga, who is no shrine maiden, changes the end to convey his own feelings.

ちはやぶる　神の斎垣も　越えぬべし　恋しき人の　見まくほしさに

So much do I desire to be with the person I love that I would traverse this sacred fence of the gods.

She clutches the letter to her chest as a million viewers collectively sigh~~~~~~~~~

Notes

1. Painting at top: The Sacred Fence, Tales of Ise, episode 71

2. 100 Poets blog

3. The Chihayaburu poem from Tale of Ise is predated by a much older poem in the Manyoshu, which is more transgressive because it alludes to the person not only saying they will traverse the sacred fence but will even forget their name and rank. Is Michinaga making promises he would never be able to keep?