At around the time this man married elsewhere, thinking he would no longer visit her, she decided to spend some time in Yamato, where she had lived before, and sent this to him:
みわの山いかにまち見む年ふともたづぬる人もあらじと思へば
| miwa no yama ika ni matimimu tosi Fu tomo tadunuru Fito mo arazi to omoFeba |
On the mount of Miwa Why should I wait? Years may pass, yet Would you come enquiring- I think not! |
Ise
伊勢
Even though the lady felt he was utterly heartless, she was moved to reply:
涙さへ時雨にそひてふるさとは紅葉の色も濃さまさりけり
| namida saFe sigure ni soFite Furusato Fa momidi no iro mo kosa masarikeri |
Ever my tears Fall with the showers; At my ancient home, The lustre of the Autumn leaves Is deepest of all. |
and attaching it to a branch of privet, sent it to him. This must have been around the Ninth Month. The man read the poem and thought it extraordinarily moving.
During the reign of the Kanpyō Emperor, a lady whose father was Governor of Yamato served in the retinue of the consort who had borne His Majesty children. Her father loved her dearly, and felt that he could not wed her to any ordinary man, so when the brother of the consort proposed marriage to her with great attentiveness, what was she to do but allow the union? Though the lady wondered what her father would say about it, he replied, ‘It must be the bonds from a previous life that have brought you to this fate, but young men are known to be unreliable…’ Years passed, and the man wed into the family of the man who was Major Captain at the time. The lady’s father heard of it and thought that, indeed, matters had proceeded as he had feared. While the lady was still in an agony of shame, a messenger came from the man’s household to the estate of her father near Gojo and, on a scarlet autumn leaf upon the fence, wrote:
人住まず荒れたるやどを來て見れば今ぞ木の葉は錦織りける
| Fito sumazu aretaru yado wo kite mireba ima zo ko no Fa Fa nisiki worikeru |
I live no more At this overgrown house I have come to gaze upon, but Now, the leaves upon the trees Weave a fine brocade. |
The Mii Temple (三井寺), also known as the Onjōji (園城寺) still exists, and can be found in Onjōji-chō within the bounds of Ōtsu City in Shiga Prefecture to the east of Kyoto. If you want to take a look at their website (Japanese only). Click here.
A boy at the Mii Temple had promised to let him know if he came to the capital; although he heard that the boy was there, when he did not come to visit him, he sent him the following:
かげみえぬ君は雨夜の月なれやいでゝも人にしられざりけり
| kage mienu kimi Fa amayo no tuki nare ya idete mo Fito ni sirarezarikeri |
Unseen is the brightness of your face ? Are you as a rain-filled night’s Moon, perhaps? Emerging, yet to folk Not letting on!. |
Bishop Kakuga (1090 – 1146)