The one whose sleeve brushed
mine is nowhere to be seen,
and yet the scent of
the blossom breathes as though it
were his, this spring daybreak

Meaning

The one whose sleeve brushed mine is nowhere to be seen, and yet the scent of the blossom breathes as though it were his, in the spring daybreak.

Commentary

Part Three: Tenarai

　At daybreak in spring, catching the scent of the red plum in the garden, Ukifune set this down in her brush practice. The fragrance that came of itself from Kaoru's body, on the nights at Uji, had risen again in her mind. Even after her vows the past returns at such moments. Directly afterward she hears news of Kaoru from the Governor of Kii, who calls at the house, and it shakes her badly.

　"The one whose sleeve brushed mine" is a person whose scent has passed into one's clothes, that is, Kaoru. To be reminded of someone by the smell of plum is a device as old as the Kokinshu, and the flower's scent and the man's are laid over each other. Since Kaoru's very name means fragrance, the device works for him as for no one else. The figure of a scent that remains where the person is gone catches exactly how the lost past reaches her.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

The one whose sleeve brushed mine is nowhere to be seen, and yet the scent of the blossom breathes as though it were his, this spring daybreak

The one whose sleeve brushed
mine is nowhere to be seen,
and yet the scent of
the blossom breathes as though it
were his, this spring daybreak