はかなしや霞の衣裁ちしまに
花のひもとく折も来にけり
花のひもとく折も来にけり
- Roma-ji
-
Hakanashi ya kasumi no koromo tachishi ma ni
hana no himo toku ori mo kinikeri - English Translation
-
How brief a thing—no
sooner is the robe of haze
cut out than the time
has come round for the flowers
to loosen and open out
- Meaning
- How brief a thing: no sooner is the robe of haze cut out than the season has come for the flowers to loosen and open.
- Commentary
-
Part Three: Sawarabi
The new year came, the year of mourning for her sister ended, and Naka no Kimi put off her dark robes and performed the purification. Kaoru sent this on that day. For him too the year had been the year of losing Oigimi, and he could only be startled at how quickly it had gone. The date of her removal to the capital was fixed for early in the Second Month, and the day of leaving the villa at Uji drew near. Attending to the preparations as her guardian, Kaoru could not cut off his feeling for the sister in whom Oigimi's likeness lived.
"The robe of haze" is mourning dress, named for the colour of spring haze. Tatsu is to cut cloth. Hana no himotoku is a bud loosening and opening, and cutting a robe and untying a cord keep the words of clothing at work through both halves. The speed with which a year of mourning gives way to the season of flowers is stated by nothing but the contrast of two solid things, a robe and a flower. That so little feeling-language is needed to convey the indifference of time is the mark of Kaoru's skill.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Other
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- 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
- 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
- There will be no one left to see them, in this hill village where the storm goes astray—and yet the scent of flowers recalls old days
- The plum my sleeve brushed is unaltered in its scent, and yet is it the dwelling, moving root and all, that is to be otherwise