This purple, whose true
shade I never understood—
with what great care, then,
you must have gone about it,
the dyeing of it for me

Meaning

This purple, whose shade I never understood—with what care you must have gone about the dyeing of it.

Commentary

Part One: Makibashira

　This is her reply. His youth and beauty were such that she felt her own inadequacy, and, telling herself that he was in no way less than Genji, she composed herself and answered, adding that from now on she would serve knowing what she owed him. The Emperor laughed: to understand only now was of little use, and if anyone would hear his case he would like the rights of it argued. His earnestness made her so uneasy that she resolved to give no further sign of encouragement, and kept strictly to business; so that he could say none of what he wished, and consoled himself that she would grow used to him in time.

　"What shade" is: with what feeling behind it. "Purple" and "dye" are both his own words, taken over. "Kokoro shite" is with great care. She frames it as thanks for a rank granted without any service to earn it, and pretends not to have received the other half of his poem at all. Taking up every pivot and restricting its sense to the question of rank is the same method she used in answering the Prince of War in the chapter of the Boneset. Here again is the woman who was courted by many and never once ill spoken of.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

This purple, whose true shade I never understood— with what great care, then, you must have gone about it, the dyeing of it for me

This purple, whose true
shade I never understood—
with what great care, then,
you must have gone about it,
the dyeing of it for me