Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.65 相模「恨みわび ほさぬ袖だに あるものを 恋に朽ちなむ 名こそ惜しけれ」

恨みわび ほさぬ袖だに あるものを 恋に朽ちなむ 名こそ惜しけれ

相模

the sleeve never dries — my name is what is rotting

the sleeve never dries — my name is what is rotting

キーワードKeywords

Unwrung SleeveRottingReputationResentmentDamage
Love

相模Lady Sagami — No. 65 女房・姫Court Lady

Wife of the governor of Sagami, a lady poet who wrote about love and the damage it does to a reputation.

うらみわび ほさぬそでだに あるものを こひにくちなむ なこそをしけれ

Urami wabi Hosanu sode dani Aru mono o Koi ni kuchinan Na koso oshikere

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

The sleeve never gets a chance to dry. That she can live with. What she cannot accept is the other damage — her name, quietly rotting in other people’s conversation because of this.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Sabi (Beauty of Decay)

Physical rot is used as the yardstick for reputational rot, which makes an abstraction tangible. Stage the small material damage first; the larger loss then reads as fact.