One who breaks a spray
to wear it, and in passing
goes by the rough hedge
of a mountain rustic's house—
just a traveller of spring

Meaning

One who breaks a spray to wear and passes by a mountain rustic's hedge is only a traveller of spring.

Commentary

Part Three: Shiigamoto

　Naka no Kimi's reply to Niou's poem on the mountain cherry. Oigimi was unwilling to answer, and the younger sister wrote in her place; from this point the replies to Niou are hers. She turns aside the kinship he had claimed, treating him as a passer-by amusing himself on the road.

　Hana no tayori is doing a thing while about something else. The rustic's hedge is a poor house in the hills, said of her own condition in self-deprecation. The traveller of spring is one who goes by and does not stop, and holds him lightly off. The skill with which she takes his kazashi and shifts its sense shows both the learning of the Uji sisters and their wariness of men from the capital.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

One who breaks a spray to wear it, and in passing goes by the rough hedge of a mountain rustic's house— just a traveller of spring

One who breaks a spray
to wear it, and in passing
goes by the rough hedge
of a mountain rustic's house—
just a traveller of spring