Finding the fragrance
of the orange dear to it,
the cuckoo has come,
seeking out and calling on
this village of fallen bloom

Meaning

Drawn by the fragrance of the orange blossom, the cuckoo has sought out and come calling on this village where the flowers fall.

Commentary

Part One: Hanachirusato

　Genji reached the house he had been making for and sat first with the Reikeiden Consort, talking of the past until the night grew late. As the moon of the twentieth rose, the shadows of the trees lay deep and an orange tree nearby gave off its scent. The Consort had aged, but she was thoughtful, refined, and easy to be fond of. When a cuckoo—perhaps the one from that earlier hedge—called in the same voice, Genji spoke this poem. The chapter takes its name from it.

　The orange had long been the flower that brings the past to mind, which suits a scene of remembering the late Emperor. The cuckoo runs on from the Nakagawa scene and again stands for Genji himself. "The village where the flowers fall" is this house, where the Consort and her sister live. Using the standard pairing of orange and cuckoo, he folds into it his actual errand—coming to someone with whom the past can be shared—and the poem carries the theme of the whole chapter.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Finding the fragrance of the orange dear to it, the cuckoo has come, seeking out and calling on this village of fallen bloom

Finding the fragrance
of the orange dear to it,
the cuckoo has come,
seeking out and calling on
this village of fallen bloom