That saying nothing
in words outdoes the saying—
this I can make out
in the very look of one
who is shy before others
- Meaning
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That to say nothing outdoes the saying of it—I can see as much in the look of one who is shy before others.
- Commentary
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Part Two: Yokobue
In autumn Yugiri came to the Ichijo residence with his dead friend's charge still on his mind. On a bright moonlit night, listening to the insects in the garden, he took out the six-stringed koto that Kashiwagi had liked to play and struck it. When he urged the Fallen Leaf Princess to play as well, she hesitated and then touched out a little of Sofuren. He sent her this poem then. She answered, but with reserve and a step back, and what he felt was still not taken up.
"In words" carries the sound of the word for koto. "Saying nothing outdoes the saying" is an old formula: what is not spoken runs deeper than what is. "The look of one who is shy before others" is a manner of drawing back in company. To a woman who has shown her heart on the strings he says that her silence itself is the proof, and the name of the piece she played sounds under it—a poem with a great deal folded into it.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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