91
A popular song about a lady who suffered from the same defect as the princess.
92
Genji’s poem is an allusion to a well-known uta which runs: ‘Must we who once would not allow even the thickness of a garment to part us be now far from each other for whole nights on end?’
93
He used to splash his cheeks with water from a little bottle in order that she might think he was weeping at her unkindness. She exposed this device by mixing ink with the water.
94
The reference of course is to the princess. ‘Though fair the tree’ refers to her high birth.
95
They were not allowed to leave the palace.