How fleeting it is—
for the hollyhock one wears
I have waited here
for this day on which the god
gives us all his leave to meet
- Meaning
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How empty it turns out to be: for the sake of the leaf another wears, I had waited for this day the god allows.
- Commentary
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Part One: Aoi
The festival crowds were thick, and Genji's carriage could find nowhere to stand. A fan was put out from a woman's carriage and a voice offered to make room. Wondering what sort of flirt this was, he had his carriage drawn up, and found this poem written on a folded corner of the fan. Recognizing the hand as that of Naishi no Suke, he was struck all over again by her unaging appetite, and answered curtly.
The aoi is the plant worn at the Kamo festival, and by convention it plays on the words for a day of meeting—it is also the source of this chapter's name. "The leaf another wears" points to Genji with another woman, taking the fact of his companion straight into the verse. "The day the god allows" is the festival day, the day she had hoped might bring a meeting. It is a reproach, and it keeps its wordplay exact, so her cultivation shows here too.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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