What a rare sight, they
will say at home, and wait to
look at you—coming
back to them wearing the brocade
of flowers on your shoulders
- Meaning
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What a rare sight, they will say at home, and wait to look at you—coming back in the brocade of flowers.
- Commentary
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Part One: Umegae
Genji ran after the carriage as the ox was being put to and gave the Prince this in return for his jest; and the Prince thought it very sharp of him. To the other guests too he gave gowns and small cloaks, without making much of it. The tale then turns to the girl's coming of age in the western hall of the estate.
"Mezurashi" is rare, here with an edge of mockery. "Those at home" answers the Prince's "my lady." "Coming back in the brocade of flowers" draws on the saying in the Records of the Grand Historian that to win wealth and not go home is to walk at night in brocade, and applies it to the fine robes the Prince is carrying off. He had said his wife would reproach him; not at all, Genji replies, they will be watching for you—the jest handed straight back, and with a Chinese authority behind it, so that the Prince may well have found it sharp. It closes a night of music on a laugh.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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