The scent that has passed
into a sleeve grown used to
another man—it
has gone into me deeply,
and I have resented it
- Meaning
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The scent that has passed into a sleeve grown used to another man has gone deep into me, and I have resented it.
- Commentary
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Part Three: Yadorigi
Coming to the Nijo residence, Niou noticed that another man's scent had passed into Naka no Kimi's sleeve. Kaoru's fragrance was famous and particular, and there was no hiding it. Suspecting that something had passed between them, Niou spoke this poem. She denied it in her reply, but his suspicion did not leave him, and the dealings between Kaoru and Naka no Kimi grew more guarded from then on.
Mata hito is another man, that is, Kaoru. Utsurika is a scent that has passed into cloth; the fragrance that comes off Kaoru's body of itself serves here as evidence. Waga mi ni shimete is deeply, to the bone, and shimu belongs with scent, as nare belongs with sode, sleeve. That so fugitive a thing as a fragrance should be what raises the suspicion comes straight out of the way Kaoru has been conceived as a character.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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