The flower that loosed
its cords in the evening dew
did so, after all,
out of the bond that first showed
by the way of that roadside
- Meaning
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That the flower opens in the evening dew and shows its face is owing, after all, to the bond that first appeared to me on the road.
- Commentary
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Part One: Yugao
Arriving at the deserted mansion, Genji at last uncovered his face in the quiet of the empty house. She, for her part, did not disclose her own name either, and for the first time the two were simply before each other. It was then that he spoke this poem. She answered, but with a note of self-deprecation running through her words. As the night deepened, a spirit appeared in that house.
"The flower that loosens its cords" is a flower opening and also a man and woman letting down their guard. "Tamahoko no" is a fixed epithet attached to "road," pointing back to the meeting on the Gojo street that began with a fan. He describes the act of showing his face through the image of a flower opening, gently, and the poem marks the moment when a bond begun in concealment finally takes a shape.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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