That you should have kept
in mind, as a place where you
once lodged, the foot of
a rotted tree fallen to
ruin—there is the sadness

Meaning

That you should keep in mind, as a place where you once lodged, the foot of a rotted tree fallen to ruin—there is the sadness of it.

Commentary

Part Three: Yadorigi

　Ben's reply to Kaoru's poem on the lodging tree. Likening herself to a rotted tree, she says that his very fondness for a place in such a state is what saddens her. The Eighth Prince and Oigimi were gone, Naka no Kimi had moved to the capital, and this old nun was left alone at Uji. In the course of that night's talk she told Kaoru of Ukifune, and so he learned that a girl in the elder sister's likeness existed.

　Kuchiki is a rotted tree, said both of her own age and of the ruined house. Taking over his yadorigi she carries on the word tree and lays herself over it. Omoi okikeru is to have kept a thing in mind, and oku also belongs with dew and frost as a word. That she says not that she is grateful but flatly that she is sad carries the real feeling of a long-serving woman who has lost one master after another.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

That you should have kept in mind, as a place where you once lodged, the foot of a rotted tree fallen to ruin—there is the sadness

That you should have kept
in mind, as a place where you
once lodged, the foot of
a rotted tree fallen to
ruin—there is the sadness