Is it a flower
that answers to the heart of
the man who broke it—
one that puts nothing in its
colour, yet breathes scent below
- Meaning
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Is this a flower that answers to the heart of the man who broke it—showing nothing in its colour, yet breathing scent beneath?
- Commentary
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Part Three: Sawarabi
In the capital, Niou, finding the journey to Uji too difficult, had settled on bringing Naka no Kimi to his Nijo residence. One day he broke off a spray of red plum from the garden and sent it to Kaoru with this poem. He suspected that Kaoru loved Naka no Kimi without ever saying so, and put the suspicion to him in the figure of the flower's scent. Kaoru answered at once and let it pass, but the suspicion did not leave Niou, and in later chapters it returns again and again as tension between the two men.
"The man who broke it" is the one who picked the spray, that is, Kaoru. To show nothing in the colour and yet be fragrant beneath is a figure for feeling that is not let out. The plum is a flower prized for scent rather than colour, and that quality does the work of the comparison. The manner is light, but the suspicion showing through it draws Niou's character accurately.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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