It is as though I
had waited and met at last
the udumbara—
and my eyes will not shift now
to the cherry of deep hills

Meaning

It is as if I had waited and at last been granted the udumbara flower; my eyes will not turn even to the cherries of these deep hills.

Commentary

Part One: Wakamurasaki

　At the parting, the bishop answered Genji's poem with this one. Genji's visit itself, he says, is like meeting the flower that blooms once in three thousand years, so that mountain cherries are nothing beside it—praise of the guest in the highest terms available. Genji laughed and went down from the hills. The episode there closes, and the tale moves back to the capital.

　The udumbara is a legendary flower said to bloom once in three thousand years, used for a piece of great and rare fortune. He takes Genji's "mountain cherry" and returns it as "cherry of the deep hills," carrying the exchange's words forward. Where Genji praised the blossom, the bishop answers that his guest surpasses it, using a term drawn from Buddhist scripture to make a greeting of the highest formality.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

It is as though I had waited and met at last the udumbara— and my eyes will not shift now to the cherry of deep hills

It is as though I
had waited and met at last
the udumbara—
and my eyes will not shift now
to the cherry of deep hills