Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.14 河原左大臣(源融)「陸奥の しのぶもぢずり 誰ゆゑに 乱れ始めにし 我ならなくに」

陸奥の しのぶもぢずり 誰ゆゑに 乱れ始めにし 我ならなくに

河原左大臣(源融)

tangled like northern cloth — and I did not start this

tangled like northern cloth — and I did not start this

キーワードKeywords

Printed ClothTangled PatternNorthern ProvinceBlameSecret Fern
Love

河原左大臣(源融)Minamoto no Tōru — No. 14 公卿Court Noble

A son of Emperor Saga and Minister of the Left, whose lavish Kawara mansion is often read into the figure of Prince Genji.

みちのくの しのぶもぢずり たれゆゑに みだれはじめにし われならなくに

Michinoku no Shinobu mojizuri Tare yue ni Midare hajime ni shi Ware naranaku ni

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

A length of cloth from the far north, printed with ferns in a deliberately disordered pattern — the kind of disorder someone designed. He holds up his own mind next to it: same tangle. And whose doing was that? Not his.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Mitate (Pattern as Feeling)

A designed disorder in fabric stands in for an emotional one. Borrowing a made object to describe an inner state gives the feeling craftsmanship — it looks intentional, which is exactly the accusation.