“It is trash, and where I come from, we burn trash.”
The birch bark scroll wrapped up with a dead queen's hair and a jacana feather is based on what I remember about Heian-era poetry, both in its elegant allusions and its dedication to aesthetics. Of course, if you're a foreigner like In-yo is, you only have a series of random objects and the lingering feeling that you are missing something. The emperor likely considered it a blunt and elegant message while In-yo thought it trash. Rabbit's ruling, which will be backed up in history by Chih's account, calls it both.
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