The warbler's singing—
that song is as it was then,
but the blossoms' shade
where once we made merry
is wholly changed from before
- Meaning
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The warbler's song is what it always was, but the shade of the blossoms where we once made merry together has changed past knowing.
- Commentary
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Part One: Otome
In Genji's thirty-fourth year, past the twentieth of the Second Month, the Reizei Emperor visited the Suzaku Palace. The Third Month was the month of Fujitsubo's death, and so, though the cherries were not yet at their height, the day was set while the early blossoms were still lovely. The company wore the blue robes with cherry beneath; His Majesty was in red, and Genji, summoned to attend, wore red as well, so that the two shone as one and could hardly be told apart. Ten students were called and set a topic for verse, evidently with Yugiri's coming examination in mind. As the sun sank, the barges of the musicians rowed about sounding their preludes, the wind from the hills joining them delightfully, and Shun'oden was danced. Genji remembered the old banquet of flowers, and the Retired Emperor said, "Shall we ever see the like again?" When the dance ended, Genji offered him the cup with this poem.
"The warbler's singing" renders the name of the dance, Shun'oden, the warbler's spring song. At that old banquet the Retired Emperor, then still Crown Prince, had been so taken with the piece that he had Genji dance. "Then" is the reign of the Kiritsubo Emperor. "Mutsuru" is to make merry together, to be intimate. "The blossoms' shade" marks the change: then it was beneath the cherries of the Southern Hall, and now beneath those of a retired sovereign's palace. The point of the poem lies in that contrast—the music unchanged, the place and the fortunes of men changed utterly. For a reader who knows the brilliance of the Festival of the Cherry Blossoms, the twenty years between fall heavily indeed.
- Author
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Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
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Genji Monogatari
- Other
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