A flowering branch
on which one who looks at it
will hang a grievance—
I should have taken more care
before I broke it, it seems
- Meaning
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A flowering branch on which the one who looks will hang a grievance—I should have taken more care before I broke it.
- Commentary
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Part Three: Sawarabi
Kaoru's reply to Niou's poem on the red plum. He turns it aside with a joke: it seems that breaking a flower has brought an odd suspicion on him. In fact he had not come out from under his grief for Oigimi, and had been seeing her likeness in Naka no Kimi, so Niou's guess was not wide of the mark. Saying nothing of that, Kaoru went on attending in detail, as her guardian, to the arrangements for her removal to the capital early in the Second Month.
Kakoto is a grievance made up as a pretext. Yosekeru is to have such a thing fastened on one, that is, to be found fault with. "I should have taken more care before I broke it" has the form of regret while in effect laughing the suspicion off. The rule of taking over the other's word, oru, to break, is kept, and the measured way of answering is very much Kaoru's.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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