Because I thought this
the place where the maidens are,
drawn by the fragrance
of the sakaki leaves, I
sought it out and broke it off

Meaning

Thinking this the place where the god's own maidens are, I followed the fragrance of the sakaki and broke off a branch.

Commentary

Part One: Sakaki

　Genji answered her poem on the spot with this one. Told there was no sign to guide him, he replies that the scent of the sakaki was itself the sign. He pulled the blinds over himself and stayed leaning against the lintel through the night. A woman he had once been able to see whenever he liked was now kept from him like this, and it moved them both.

　"Otomego" are the maidens who serve the god—the High Priestess and her mother. "The fragrance of sakaki leaves" takes up her own "sakaki," carrying the exchange forward. "Natsukashimi" is being drawn to something. He dismantles her argument about there being no sign by making the scent itself the sign, and turns her refusal aside with wit.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Because I thought this the place where the maidens are, drawn by the fragrance of the sakaki leaves, I sought it out and broke it off

Because I thought this
the place where the maidens are,
drawn by the fragrance
of the sakaki leaves, I
sought it out and broke it off