It is my own self
I find I must resent—this
Chinese robe of mine
that never grows worn and soft
against a sleeve of yours
- Meaning
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It is my own self I must resent—this Chinese robe that never grows soft with wear against a sleeve of yours.
- Commentary
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Part One: Miyuki
For Tamakazura's coming of age the Empress sent a white train, a Chinese jacket, robes, and the implements for dressing the hair, all beyond compare; and the ladies of the Rokujo estate each did her utmost with gowns, combs, and fans, so that nothing could be ranked above the rest. The people at the east lodge at Nijo, not counting themselves among those who might offer congratulations, let the matter pass—all but the daughter of the Prince of Hitachi, Suetsumuhana, whose oddly punctilious, old-fashioned nature could not let such an occasion go by, and who sent her gift exactly as form prescribed. A gray-blue gown, a lined pair of trousers in the fallen-chestnut color once so admired, and a small cloak of hail-pattern whose purple had faded, all in a handsome clothing box wrapped with great neatness. Genji saw it, was appalled, thought "the same as ever," and flushed. In the sleeve of the little cloak was a poem in her usual manner.
"Karakoromo," the Chinese robe, is the word she loves to work into her poems; sounding "ki," to wear, it functions almost as a pillow word for "kimi," you. "Urami" plays resentment against seeing the lining; "naru" plays growing familiar against a robe going limp—all of them proper associates of the robe, and the technique is correct enough. But what the poem says is a lover's complaint at not being kept near, which suits a coming-of-age gift not at all; and the gray-blue gown is a color for mourning. With this lady, the very scrupulousness with which she keeps to form is what makes her miss it. Her hand, more cramped than ever, was as though cut deep with a chisel. Genji found her exasperating and could not hold in his laughter, yet pitied her: with no one left to help her now, what trouble the poem must have cost.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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