Kiritsubo 1.5

It's great to finally get back to the text!  I haven't done a new sentence since January.

This sentence has a few new symbols that I will explain.  Incidentally, the "1.5" in the title is section 1 sentence 5; Hiromichi uses squares to mark off what he considers significant divisions in the text, and L-shaped figures for even larger divisions.  His text of Kiritsubo contains three large divisions (although the last is just the final sentence), and 12 shorter divisions.

Looking at the picture here, there are three things of interest:
- The open rectangle to the right of なん indicates a 係り結び; the open rectangle pointing the other way on けれ is the 結び part.
- The lines to the right of two phrases show that these phrases connect to each other and what is in between them is a parenthetical remark.  In other words, Hiromichi feels that you should read this as いにしへの人のよしあるにて、何事の儀式をももてなし給ひけれど with the おやうちぐし part as a parenthetical.  The 乙 and 甲 symbols are also supposed to help with this although the 乙 seems misplaced here.  The woodblock print has them in the same place though, and Hiromichi wrote the 版下 for the woodblock print himself so I may just not fully understand how they're used.
- Finally, the black circle to the left of the し in 後見しなければ indicates that it's a 助辞 (which Hiromichi glosses as yasume no kotoba) -- in other words, a particle that adds emphasis without contributing any other meaning.  He says in the intro that he only uses these circles where it might be confusing; I guess here there's the risk of trying to read し as a verb (the conjugation would be wrong in classical but I believe that even in mid-19th century Japanese, しない was the colloquial negative of する.)

My translation:

Her father, a Grand Counselor, had passed away, and her mother, his principal wife, with the refinement of an ancient family, so that [her daughter] would not lag greatly behind even those who had both parents and a brilliant reputation now, prepared [her daughter] for every kind of ceremony, but since [her daughter] had no especially firm backing, in the end she had no one to rely on at important times and appeared lonely.

Now the headnotes:
父の大なごんはなくなりて
評　更衣の父按察（あぜち）の大納言の事を、何となき物語りの中に挿（さしはさ）みて、説出だされたり。かくてその委（くは）しきことは更衣の失せ給へる後に著（あらは）されたり。この文法、巻々に多し。心得おくべし。ここよりは、更衣の心づかひの苦（くる）しき有様を委はしく説きはじむるなり。

Hyou: The fact that the Intimate's father is the Azechi Grand Counselor is brought out in middle of the story in an unrelated section. Thus this specific information is not given until after the Intimate's death. This sort of technique appears frequently throughout the story. You should pay attention to it. Starting here, a detailed explanation is given of the Intimate's suffering.

---

I think Hiromichi is reaching a bit here, although he may have just been eager to introduce this general principle.  The information here appears in the Suma chapter, when the Akashi monk is talking about Genji: 故母御息所は、おのが叔父にものしたまひし按察使大納言の娘なり。("His deceased mother, the Haven, was the daughter of my uncle the Azechi Grand Counselor.")  However, the fact that her father is specifically the Grand Counsler of Azechi has no relevance to anything in the story so it's hard to see this as an explicit principle of composition.  Hiromichi seems to be writing under the assumption that Murasaki Shikibu composed the entire story in order from chapter 1 to 54 and had the entire story and characters planned out in advance, which is no longer a widely accepted theory of the Genji's composition.

はゝ北の方なん云々よしあるにて
釈　「なん」はもてなし給ひけれど、とある「けれ」にて結びて、「ど」と受けたる格なり。「いにしへの人のよしあるにて」は「いにしへのよしある人にて」といふ意なり。小櫛に「にて」は下の「もてなし給ひけれど」といふへつづく詞なり、とあり。標（しるし）の点にて心得べし。

The nan used here connects to the kere below [as kakari-musubi], which is conjugated [in the izenkei form] because of the do.  "inishie no hito no yoshi aru ni te" means "inishie no yoshi aru hito ni te."  The Tama no ogushi says that the ni te here connects to the "motenashi tamahi keredo" below.  I have shown this with my symbols in the text.

---

I'm not entirely certain of Hiromichi's analysis of the inishie phrase here, but the modern editions are rather vague on what it means also.  A number of manuscripts read いにしへ人 instead, which may reflect some confusion over this sentence going back some ways.

Now the vocab notes:

よしある
釈　「よし」は「ゆゑよし」などいふ「よし」にて、「由緒ある」といふに同じく、種姓（スジャウ）のいやしからぬをいふ。

yoshi is the same as in the word yueyoshi. This is similar to the meaning "venerable [family]", and indicates a family lineage that is high-class.

はなやか
釈　花のごとくめてたきよしを譬えていふ詞にて、「やか」はそのたとへたる形容の辞なり。

This is a word that metaphorically relates something to the excellence of a flower. The yaka is a suffix that indicates this comparison.

はかばかしき
釈　「はか」は或る説に「極処（ハテカ）」の意なり、といへるやよろしからん。極処のなきは、ただ弱はしく確かならぬもの故に、確かならぬことを「はかなき」といふ。「はかばかし」はその反（うら）にて、確かなることをいへり。「しき」は例の「しげき」意の形容辞なり。

訳　シツカリトシタ

A certain theory says that haka is like 極処（hateka） [endpoint], this is perhaps a good theory. So because something without (naki) an endpoint (haka) is weak and uncertain, something that is uncertain is called hakanaki.  Hakabakashi is the opposite of this and means something certain.  shiki is the usual suffix meaning "profusely" derived from shigeki.

Translation: shikkari shita

うしろみ
釈　後（うしろ）の方は見えぬものなる故に、いとおぼつかなきを傍より見て助くる意なり。今俗字音（もじごゑ）に「こうけん」といふことなり。雅言には「うしろむ」と働かしてもいへり。

Because behind you is something you can't see, it helps you out if someone is beside you watching that indistinct area.  In current vernacular this is also read with on-yomi as kouken. The Yugen shuran says that this also sometimes occurs in verb form asushiromu.

こととある時は
余　帚木に「こととあかくなれば」。野分の巻に「こととなれなれしきにこそはあめれ」。家持集に「秋風はこととふききぬ白たへのわがときごろもぬふ人もなし」。椎本に「ことといへばかぎりなき御心のふかきになん」。著問集に「ことといへばあるじながらもえてしがなねはしらねどもひきこころみん」。すべて「ことと」といふ詞はとりたててそのことをするにいふ詞なり。

Genchu yoteki (1830): In the "Hahakigi" chapter it says "It became particularly light." In the "Nowaki" chapter it says "They became particularly friendly." A poem in the Yakamochi-shu [233] says "The autumn wind is blowing particularly strong. There is no one here to mend my tattered clothes." The "Shiigamoto" chapter says "[Kaoru]: 'Based on what you said, there is no limit to the depth of your heart." The Kokoncho monju says "???". In all of these examples, koto to means "especially."

---

The text most often used in modern editions reads ことある instead, although many manuscripts have ことと.  Typically when modern editions deal with this issue they come down on the side of ことある being the correct reading -- that is, this should mean "When there was an event" rather than ことと somehow modifying ある adverbially.

I apologize for leaving out the Kokoncho-monju quote but I was never able to find the passage in the work (since I don't think there's a good search tool for it) and I don't feel confident enough to try to translate that long string of hiragana.

The inclusion of the "Shiigamoto" quote appears to be an error since こと there means 言 rather than "especially."


And finally a short supplemental note:

北の方 
河　男は南、女は北に住むべきいふなり。陰陽につかさどる故なり。よりて貴賎ともに妻室を「北の方」と号するなり。后妃を椒房と号するも北向に住み給ふ故なり、云々

Kakaisho (1360's): It is said that men should live in the south and women in the north. This has to do with a balance between the Yin and Yang. Because of this everyone, high and low ranking, calls the dwelling of the wife the kita no kata. This is the same reason why an Empress is called 椒房, because they live facing the north.

---

According to the Koujien, the term 椒房 comes from the Empress' section of the palace being painted with fruit from the 山椒　tree in the Han dynasty.

Chogonka-den (extracts)

As I said before, Hiromichi follows his quotation of the entire 長恨歌 with extracts from a prose story called the 長恨歌伝, which is placed before the 長恨歌 in many manuscripts of Bai Juyi's poems.  It is by 陳鴻, but I don't know much about him.  I suppose this prose story was already appearing in manuscripts in the Heian period so that it would have been read there.

As with the Chogonka, I will use Hiromichi's 訓点 to make a kundoku (although I filled in some of the okurigana I think he just left out as understood).  Each paragraph represents one extract, so between each paragraph there is some omitted material.  Hiromichi's extracts make up about 25-30% of the whole thing -- he seems to cut parts that are in the Chogonka (like the entire episode of the priest visiting Yang Guifei's spirit).  I am not aware of any English translation.

開元中、 泰階平にして、四海（よのうみ）無事（しずかなり）。玄宗、位に在ること歲久しくして、旰（ひたけて）食ひ、宵（よは）に衣るに倦めり。政、大小と無く、始て右丞相に委ぬ。深居游宴して、声色を以て、自ら娛む。

During the Kaiyuan era, the whole populace was content and the land was at peace.  Xuanzong had reigned for a long time, and he had grown tired of governing.  He began to entrust all the matters of state, large and small, to his senior ministers.  He shut himself in his inner chambers and held banquets, pleasuring himself with women.

- The Kaiyuan era was from 731-741.
- 旰食宵衣 literally means to eat late and wear clothes into the night; this is used as an image of a hard-working ruler.

高力士に詔し、潜に外宮を捜て、弘農の楊玄琰が女を寿邸に得たり。既に笄せり。

He issued an order to Gao Lishi, and searched the other palaces (for women), finding a daughter of Yang Xuanyan of Hongnong who was then in the Shoudi (residence).  She had already come of age.

上、甚だ悦ぶ。

The Emperor was exceedingly pleased.

明年、貴妃と冊（なづけて）為。后の服用を半ばにす。是に由て、其の容を冶め、其詞を敏くして、婉孌萬態以て上の意に中つ。上益々嬖す。

The next year she was named Guifei.  She was treated half as an Empress.  Starting from then, she improved her looks and sharpened her diction, and with her lithe seductiveness she won the heart of the Emperor.  He loved her more and more.

- "Guifei" was evidently a name for one of four high-ranking consorts under the Empress.

三夫人、九嬪、二十七世婦、八十一御妻、暨び後宮の才人、楽府の妓女有と雖でも、天子をして顧盼の意無らしむ。 是自、六宮復た幸を進る者なし。徒に殊艷尤態、是を致すのみに、蓋し才智明慧、善巧便佞、意に先ち、旨に希ひ、形容すべからざる者有り。叔父、昆弟、皆列て清貴に在り。爵、通侯為。姊妹、国夫人に封ぜらる。当王室に埒（ひとし）。

Although the palace included three fujin, nine hin, twenty-seven seifu and eighty-one gyosai, not to mention the palace dancers and singers, none of them could make the Emperor so much as glance at them.  But it was not only her exceptional beauty that won the Emperor's heart -- who is able to describe the extent of her skill and diction?  Her male relatives were all given high positions and corresponding rank, and her sisters were made fujin, fit to be with the Emperor in his bedroom.

- I discussed these women in the first sentence, although there it was 女御 rather than 御妻.

入ずるに禁門を出問はず、京師の長、吏為に之目を側（そば）む。

When they went in and out of the palace gates, no one even asked their names, and the officials could only avert their eyes.

天宝の末、兄の国忠丞相の位を盗み、國柄に愚弄す。安祿山兵を引て闕に向ふに及て、楊氏を討するを以て、辞と為。潼關守らず、翠華南に幸す。咸陽の道に出て馬嵬の亭（たびや）に次（やど）る。六軍徘徊して、戟を持て進まず。従官郎吏、上の馬の前に伏して、錯を誅して以て天下に謝せんと請ふ。国忠氂纓盤水を奉して、道の周（ほとり）に死す。左右之意、未だ快らず。上之を問ふ。当時敢て言ふ者、貴妃を以て天下の怨を塞んと請ふ。上免を知ざること、其の死を見るに忍びず，袂を反して、面を掩ひ、之を牽て去らしむ。倉皇展転、竟に就を尺組の下に絶す。 既にして玄宗、成都に狩す。肅宗、禅を霊武に受。明年、大兇元を帰し、大駕都に還る。玄宗を尊て太上皇と為す。南宮に就養す。西内に遷る。

At the end of the Tianbao period (742-756), Guifei's brother Guozhong took the Chancellor's office by force, and misused his political power.  An Lushan took troops from the palace, intent on defeating Guozhong.  They overcame the Tong barrier pass, and the Imperial flag moved south.  The Emperor set out on the Xianyang road and stopped at Mawei station.  The Imperial forces fell prostrate before the Emperor's horse, begging him to defeat Yang Guozhong.  Guozhong, arrayed in humble clothing, was killed on the road.  However, the officials were still not pleased.  The Emperor asked them why, and someone told him that he would have to appease the anger of Heaven by having Yang Guifei killed.  The Emperor saw that he could not avoid this, but he couldn't stand to watch her death.  He covered his face with his sleeves as she was hauled away.  She struggled but was strangled to death with a cord.  Xuanzong then moved to Chengdu, and his son Suzong was made Emperor at Lingwu.  The next year, An Lushan was defeated and they returned to the capital.  Xuanzong was named Retired Emperor, and the south palace was prepared for him, but he went to the Western palace instead.

- This section is a little hard to follow because the account of the rebellion is very compressed and selective.

適々道士有り、蜀より来る。上の皇心、楊妃を念ふことを是の如くなるを知て、自から言ふ、李少君が術有りと。玄宗大に喜び、命して其の神を致さしむ。方士乃ち其の術を竭くし、以て之索むるに、至らず。又能く神を遊し気に馭、天界に出て、地府に没（い）り、以て之を求むるに見えず。

Around that there was a Daoist priest who came from Shu.  When he found out about the Emperor's grief for Yang Guifei, he told the Emperor himself that he knew the arts of Li Shaojun.  Xuanzong was very happy, and charged the priest to go find her spirit.  The priest immediately used his art to search for her, but he couldn't find her.  He used heavenly powers to go to the heavens and the realm of the dead, but though he searched for her, he could not find her.

- Li Shaojun was a Daoist priest during the Han era; the SKT notes say that this is probably meant to evoke Emperor Han's grief for Li Fujin but the reference is wrong.

使者還て奏す、太上皇、皇心震悼。日々豫（たのし）まず。其年の夏四月、南宮に晏駕す。

The priest returned, and Xuanzong was crushed.  He was unhappy, and in the fourth month of that year he went to the Southern palace.

- The den does have the story of the priest finding Guifei's spirit and receiving the mementos, but Hiromichi cuts it entirely.  The extracts here give the impression that the priest just immediately goes back to the Emperor having failed.

So that's the Chogonka-den, and I'm finally done with these stupid things.  Next I can return to the actual Genji.  I'm hoping to do updates about twice a week, probably more like every 4-5 days.

Chogonka part 6

１０１　情を含み、涕を凝して、君王に謝す。
She was full of emotion, and she fixed her gaze (on the priest), relaying a message to the King.

１０２　一別音容両（ながら）、渺茫。
"Since we have parted, your voice and features are far-away and indistinct.

- SKT makes the next lines a quotation of Yang Guifei, while wikisource uses a third-person description.

１０３　昭陽殿の裏、恩愛絕。
Within the hall of the bright sun, our love has ceased.

- The "Hall of the Bright Sun" is a specific place built during Wu of Han's reign, although later it was part of the palace.

１０４　蓬萊宮の中日月長し。
The days and months are long in Penglai Palace.

- Mount Penglai is one of the dwelling places of Daoist immortals.

１０５　頭を回して、下人寰の処を望めば，
If I turn my gaze to look at the world of humans,

１０６　長安を見ずして、塵霧を見る。
I cannot see Chang'an, but only dust and mist.

１０７　唯旧物を將（も）て、深情を表す。
I can only express my deep affection using old mementos.

１０８　鈿合金釵、寄（よ）せ將（も）て去（ゆか）しむ。
I will send you away with a gold hairpin and jewel-inlaid box.

１０９　釵は一股を留め、合は一扇，
I will keep one part of the hairpin, and the clasp of the box.

１１０　釵は黄金を擘さき、合は鈿を分つ。
 The gold of the hairpin is broken, and the box is divided.

１１１　但、金鈿の堅きに似たら、心を令む、
If we keep our hearts as firm as the gold of the hairpin,

- 但 here means "If..."

１１２　天上、人間会相見。
We will meet again either in the heavens or on Earth."

１１３　別に臨て、殷勤に重て詞を寄す。
The priest began to leave, but she urgently asked him to convey a message.

１１４　詞の中に誓ひ有り、両（ふた）りの心にのみ知れり。
The message contained a pledge that only the two of them knew in the depths of their heart.

１１５　七月七日長生殿，
On the seventh day of the seventh month, in the Changsheng hall,

- The "Changsheng hall" is a hall in the Huaqing Palace, where Guifei bathed.

１１６　夜半人無して、私語（ささめごと）時。
In the middle of the night when no one was around, they whispered the pledge to each other.

１１７　天に在らば、願くは比翼の鳥と作らん，
"If we are in the heavens we will be like birds flying with wingtips together

- Although the SKT translation has the above, their notes seem to indicate that this 比翼鳥 is a specific legendary bird that shared a wing.  In this case the 比 does not mean "like..."

１１８　地に在らば、願くは連理の枝と為んと。
If we are on earth we will be intertwined branches of a tree.

- Or perhaps "of two trees"; trees that have different trunks but their branches intertwine.

１１９　天長地久時有て尽るとも，
The eternal heavens will come to an end some day,

１２０　此の恨綿々として絶る期無らん。
But this sorrow will go on forever.

So that's the Chogonka, finally.  I'll do the Chogonka-den passages tomorrow, hopefully as one long post.

Chogonka, part 5

I'm back in the US so I should be able to do more regular updates now.  Two more Chogonka posts and then 1 or 2 for the Chogonka-den and we'll be back to the actual Genji; hopefully my readership will go above 1 view per post after that. :-)  I will try to get the last Chogonka posts up relatively quickly.

８１　上は碧落を窮はめ、下は黄泉。
(The Daoist priest) searched up in the blue sky, and down in the yellow springs.

８２　両つの処、茫々として皆見えず。
But in the vastness of both places, he did not see her anywhere.

８３　忽ち聞く海上に仙山有りと，
Just then he heard about a mountain of sages above the sea,

- 仙 here is probably more specifically the Daoist "immortals" or supernatural beings.

８４　山は虚無縹緲の間に在。
The mountain was in the far off distance, barely visible.

８５　楼閣の玲瓏として五雲起き、
 A tower rose brilliantly through the five-hued clouds,

８６　其の中に綽約たる仙子多し。
In there, there were many beautiful immortals.

８７　中に一人有り、字は太真。
Among those, one had the style name of Taizhen.

- The "style name" is given to someone upon attaining adulthood; Taizhen was Yang Guifei's style name (Wikipedia says it was associated with her status as a Daoist nun before she became Xuanzong's consort).  SKT emends the text here (from other manuscripts) to 名玉妃 ("her name was Yufei"); Yufei seems to be a combination of her other names.

８８　雪の膚、花の貌、参差として是なり。
She had white skin, and a beautiful face -- this almost had to be her.

８９　金闕の西の廂に玉扃を叩けは，
The priest tapped on the jeweled door of the western wing of the gold watchtower,

- The images here are taken from traditional Daoist ideas of what the lands of the immortals looked like.

９０　転（うた）、小玉をして双成を報ぜしむ。
Now then, he had Xiaoyu relay a message to Shuangcheng.

- These are traditional female immortals.

９１　聞道（きくならく）、漢家天子の使なり。
They heard that this was a messenger from the Son of Heaven of the House of Han.

- Another example of Bai Juyi concealing Xuanzong's name by evoking Emperor Wu of Han.

９２　九華帳の裏、夢魂驚く。
From inside the nine-flowered curtain, she was startled awake from her dream.

- I'm not sure what 魂 does here; it's in Hagiwara and wikisource.  SKT has 夢中 instead (without comment), which makes more sense.

９３　衣を攬（かひと）り枕を推て、起て徘徊す。
She reached for her clothes and pushed aside her pillow, rising in a daze.

９４　珠の箔（すだれ）、銀の屏、邐迤として開く。
The pearl curtains and the silver door opened as she went through.

９５　雲の鬢（びんつら）、半ば偏（みだれ）て、新睡して覚たり。
Her cloud (dark) hair was half-disturbed; she had just awakened from sleep.

- The function of 新 here is to express the idea of having just done some action.

９６　花の冠、整へずして、堂を下り来る。
She went down into the main hall, her headpiece not adjusted.

９７　風仙袂を吹て、飄々として舉かる。
The wind blew her celestial sleeves, making them flutter.

９８　猶、霓裳羽衣の舞に似たり。
Indeed it resembled the dance of rainbow skirts and feather robes.

- This is a reference back to line 32.

９９　玉の容寂寞として涙闌干たり。
Her jeweled face was sad, and splotched with tears.

１００　梨花一枝春雨を帯たり。
(Just like) A single branch of pear blossom, wreathed in spring rain.

Chogonka, part 4

Evidently the way to sink double-digit reader to single-digit reader is to spend months on a Chinese poem. :-)  I promise this will be the only such long digression in the chapter.  The second half of the poem is drawn on more heavily than the first for the "Kiritsubo" chapter.

６１　春風、桃李花の開く夜，
The windy spring nights when the peach and plum trees bloomed,

- SKT and wikisource read 日 instead of 夜.

６２　秋雨、梧桐葉の落る時。
The autumn rains, when the leaves of the Wutong trees fell.

- SKT interprets these lines as meaning "In all the times described, the King could not forget Yang Guifei," whereas wikisource says that the spring days have been replaced by the autumn rains.  Neither interpretation is literally in the original but something more is going on than the literal translation.

６３　西宮、南苑、秋草多し。
The western palace and the southern gardens had many autumn plants.

- SKT and wikisource have 南内 here (southern palace).


６４　宮葉、階に満ちて紅掃はず。
The scarlet leaves of the palace covering the stairs were not swept away.

- SKT and wikisource have 落葉 (fallen leaves)

６５　梨園の弟子、白髮新なり。
The children of the Pear Garden had newly white hair.

-  梨園弟子 is a term for the singers and performers of the Pear Garden musical group in the palace.  SKT says this was led by Xuanzong himself.

６６　椒房の阿監、青蛾老たり。
The women in the Jiaofang's eyebrows had grown old.

- The Jiaofang was where the Empresses of the Han Dynasty lived; 青蛾 is a symbol of youth. 

６７　夕殿に螢飛びて、思ひ悄然
In the evening palace the fireflies flew, and the King was alone and sad.

６８　孤燈挑（かか）げ尽くして、未だ眠ることを成さず。
The lamps were lit and burned out, but still he could not sleep.

- SKT has 秋 instead of 孤.

６９　遅遅たる鐘鼓、初て長き夜，
The slow bells and drums, the long night had just begun.

- SKT has 鐘漏, saying this is a water-based clock.

７０　耿耿たる星河, 曙なんと欲する天。
The brightly shining stars; he wished the morning would come.

７１　鴛鴦瓦冷にして、霜の華重く，
The duck tiles were cold, and the crystallized frost was heavy.

- SKT indicates that the "duck tiles" means tiles that are closely spaced, like the mandarin ducks were said to be close in poetry.

７２　翡翠衾寒して、誰とにか共にせん。
The jade quilt was cold, who would share it with him?

- SKT emends the first part to 旧枕故衾.

７３　悠悠たる生死別て年を経，
Years passed since they had suffered the long separation of life and death,

７４　魂魄曾て来て夢にだに入らざる。
Her soul had not even appeared once in his dreams.

７５　臨邛の道士、鴻都の客，
A Daoist priest from Linqiong came as a guest to Hongdu.

- "Hongdu" is a gate of the palace that was near a school and a library; it didn't exist in Emperor Wu's time so the SKT suggests this just means the Daoist priest was coming to study.

７６　能く精誠を以って魂魄を致す。
He had the spiritual power that let him call spirits.

７７　君王、展転の思を感ぜしめんが為に，
Because he noticed that the King was afflicted with longing for his beloved,

７８　遂に方士をして殷勤に覓して教む。
The King had the priest earnestly seek out her spirit.

７９　空を排し、気に馭して、奔ること電の如く，
The priest was like lightning as he parted the skies and sent his spirit out riding in the air.

８０　天に昇り、地に入て之を求ること遍し。
He ascended to the heavens and back down to the earth, searching for her everywhere.

Chogonka, part 3

４１　君王、面を掩て救て得ず。
The King covered his face, unable to save her

４２　首を回せば、血と涙と相ひ和して流る。
When he turned his head, he saw blood and tears combining and flowing away.

４３　黄埃（こうあい）、散漫として風蕭索（せうさく）たり。
The yellow dust scattered sadly in the breeze.

４４　雲の棧、縈り紆りて劍閣に登る。
The walkways in the clouds wind around and climb up through Jiange.

- Or "the passes of Mount Jian," a border gate in modern Sichuan. The next few lines continue to describe the King's journey home.

４５　峨嵋山の下人の行くこと少まれ也
There were few people going through the foot of Mount Emei.

- Both SKT and the wikisource point out that Emei isn't on Xuanzong's route but it was a common place in poetry and it was a famous part of Shu.

４６　旌旗光無して日色薄く。
The banners had no light and the sun was pale.

- In other words the sky was cloudy so the sun couldn't illuminate the King's banners.

４７　蜀江、水碧にして蜀山青し。
The water of the Shu rivers was blue, and the Shu mountains were green.

- 青 here refers to the lush plant growth, so it's not "blue".

４８　聖主朝朝（あさなあさな）暮暮（ゆうべゆうべ）の情、
The King's feelings morning and night

- This is another line where I don't fully understand the grammar of the original.  SKT indicates this line means "(But in contrast to the lushness of the mountains and river,) the King's felt downcast because he thought about her morning and night."  Wikisource has "Our liege lord thought about her night and day."  It seems more to me like this should lead into the next lines, describing the King's 情.

４９　行宮に月を見ては心を傷むる色，
Watching the moon in his temporary dwelling reflected the pain of his heart.

５０　夜の雨に鈴を聞ては腸を断つ声。
Hearing bells on a rainy night was a sound of deep sorrow.

- SKT emends 鈴 to 猿, suggesting this is based on a 故事 about a mother monkey crying for her children.

５１　天旋り、日転りて龍馭を廻へす，
The heavens turned and the sun moved, and the Emperor's chariot returned.

- This is a poetic way of saying the rebellion ended.  I believe that Xuanzong had abdicated by this point and was a retired Emperor.

５２　此に到て躊躇して去ること能はず。
When he reached this place he hesitated and was unable to depart.

- "This place" is Mawei, where Yang Guifei was killed.

５３　馬嵬の坡の下泥土の中，
In the mud and dirt at the base of Mawei's slopes,

５４　玉顏を見ずして空しく死せし処。
He did not see her jeweled face, but only the place where she uselessly died.

- wikisource suggests that 玉 here is a reference to Guifei's birth name 玉環, although 玉 is a fairly conventional symbol of beauty.

５５　君臣、相顧みて盡（ことごと）く衣を霑（うるほ）す，
The King and his ministers looked at each other, and they all soaked their clothes [with tears].

５６　東の（方）都門を望み、馬に信（まか）せて帰る。
They turned towards the Eastern gate of the capital, and let their horses make their way home.

５７　帰り来て池苑、皆な旧きに依る，
When they returned, the ponds and gardens were just like before.

５８　太液の芙蓉、未央の柳。
The lotuses of Taiye and the willows of Weiyang.

- Weiyang palace was a Han Dynasty location, but in the Tang dynasty a pond had been built in the palace called Weiyang.  Wikisource says that the Taiye ponds were constructed by Emperor Wu, making this yet another reference to him.  Incidentally, this line is quoted verbatim in "Kiritsubo"; the only direct quote of the poem.

５９　芙蓉は面の如く、柳は眉の如く，
 The lotuses were like her face, and the willows were like her eyebrows.

６０　此に対して如何ぞ涙を垂（給は）ざらん。
Faced with this, how could the King not cry?

Kiritsubo, a new translation

I mentioned before that I'm moving back to the US and doing other things, so I've been too busy to get out posts. Just to keep something going here I'll post the first part of an attempt at a new translation I've been doing while working on my dissertation. My idea was to write a translation (or retelling?) with no annotation, but that incorporated the usual commentary into the translation through the vehicle of the narrator (who is always more present in the original than in any translation). Here's the first part.

----

This was in some past reign, although I'm not entirely sure which one. There were many women serving the Emperor, from the high-ranking Consorts to the lower-ranking Intimates. Among all these women, there was one who was somewhat lower ranking. The Emperor loved her so much that he treated her beyond what her station should have warranted. Now the highest-ranking Consorts had assumed that they would be the ones to receive the Emperor's favor, and they looked down on this upstart with scorn. She was an Intimate, and the Emperor's action made all the other Intimates even more uneasy. Her constant service in the palace shocked everyone.

She had to put up with a great deal of spite from these other women, and it may be because of this that she began to get sick. More and more she seemed to spend more time at her mother's residence than in the palace, and she always had a distracted, lonely look on her face. But this only made the Emperor love her more, and look on her with increased pity. Even as the Emperor he was not immune to criticism from others, but he couldn't pay any attention to it – the way things were going, it was obvious that his behavior was going to end up as a cautionary tale for a later generation.

The men, too, were aghast. The high-ranking nobles and privy gentlemen were helpless to deal with the situation and turned away their eyes in shame. “The Emperor's love for this Intimate is embarrassing,” they said. They knew of the many examples from Chinese history of rulers who threw the entire country into chaos due to love, and this seed of worry began to spread into the wider world. Before too long, it was inevitable that people would begin talking of Yang Guifei – the famous Chinese poem about her made a perfect parallel with what was going on in the court. Amidst all this the poor Intimate was subjected to all kinds of disgraceful treatment, but she continued to go to the palace and serve, having nothing to rely on but the grace of the Emperor's protection.

Why was this her only protection? Her father had been a high-ranking Grand Counselor, but he had passed away some time before. Her mother, the main wife of this Grand Counselor, had the grace of an ancient lineage, and she was determined not to let her daughter lag behind these other women who had both parents still living, and who had such high reputations at court. She tried her best to prepare her daughter for any kind of ceremony, but political backing from a male relative was simply too important. Whenever there was particularly important function or official event, she didn't have anyone to rely on, and she could only sit by with a lonely face.

The Emperor and this Intimate must have had a strong karmic bond in their previous life as well. She bore a child, and it was a male – a baby boy more splendid than anyone in the world, looking like a pearl. The birth took place at the Intimate's home, of course, so the Emperor waited expectantly at the palace, impatient to see his newborn son. He had the child brought to him as soon as he could, and was delighted to see the boy's childlike appearance. The Emperor's first son had been born to a high-ranking Consort, the daughter of the Minister of the Right. She lived in the Kokiden wing of the palace. The first son had excellent political backing, and everyone knew that he would someday be the Crown Prince. Even so, he could not compare with the beauty of this newborn son. The Emperor supported his first-born publicly, but in private he lavished all his attention on the new child.

The Intimate, the child's mother, was never of a rank that would have allowed her to do common palace service. Rather than going to the Emperor, the way a serving maid would, she should have stayed in her own room in the palace and waited for the Emperor to arrive. When she first arrived in the palace she had high respect from others, and she always appeared well-bred and elegant. But the Emperor would constantly have her with him during musical events, and any time there was a significant function he would call on her first. Even worse, when he spent the night with her, he would sometimes sleep late and have her continue to serve him in his rooms, not letting her return to her own – because of this, it's natural that others began to look down on her and that she grew to seem common and low-class.

This was the situation when the child was born. After the birth, the Emperor treated her with even more special care, so much so that the Kokiden Consort, the mother of the First Prince, began to grow suspicious. “If this keeps up,” she thought, “it's possible that he would even make this child the Crown Prince, and her the Empress!” This Consort had been the first to arrive in the Emperor's palace service, and naturally assumed she would eventually be Empress. Indeed the Emperor did think of her greatly, and she had given him a number of splendid children. So it's perfectly understandable why the Emperor would take her admonitions seriously, and worry about his own conduct.

As I said, the Intimate relied on the Emperor's august protection, but many other women in the palace looked down on her and sought to do her harm. She was weak and frequently ill, and the Emperor's favor was causing her more worry than benefit.

She lived in the Kiritsubo pavilion of the palace, the furthest place from the Emperor's quarters. Whenever the Emperor wanted to visit her, he had to pass by quite a few people – and he visited her so many times. Is it any wonder that those women he constantly passed by were at their wits' end with anger? She sometimes visited the Emperor instead, and on many such occasions, these other women strewed filthy things all over the walkways around the buildings and the crossbridges between them. The gentlewomen that accompanied her couldn't avoid the mess, and the bottoms of their skirts became horribly fouled.

As if this weren't enough, sometimes the women got together and locked her in a passageway, shutting the doors from both sides. They did everything they could to cause her distress, and she suffered greatly. This sort of miserable conduct only increased, and the Emperor took even greater pity on her than before. The Koroden was very close to his quarters, and he had the Intimate who originally served in there moved somewhere else, and gave those rooms to his beloved as a temporary place to stay when he wished to call on her. Of course, the Intimate who was bounced out bore a particularly implacable grudge.