Since from its first two
leaves it was a chrysanthemum
of a famous garden,
no dew ever fell that marked
it off as a shallow hue

Meaning

Since from its first two leaves it was a chrysanthemum of a famous garden, no dew ever fell that set it apart as a shallow hue.

Commentary

Part One: Fujiura

　This is her reply to Genji's chrysanthemum poem. "How much you must have taken it to heart," she said, with a very easy air and yet with some distress. Now that Yugiri was a Counselor his callers grew many, and the standing of this honored son-in-law rose the higher. Afterward the young couple moved to the Third Ward mansion where the late Princess, his grandmother, had lived, and passed their days remembering the past.

　"Futaba," the first two leaves, means infancy, answering Genji's "young leaves." "A chrysanthemum of a famous garden" is a flower of a distinguished house—Yugiri, born to such a line. "The dew that marks off a shallow hue" takes up Genji's pale green, deep purple, and dew together. Since it was a chrysanthemum of a famous garden from its first two leaves, no dew ever fell to set it apart as shallow: let us make it as if he had never been scorned as a sixth-rank man—this child was promised his future from the start. Joining in the father's triumph, she yet gently checks the note of reproach against the son-in-law. Taking over every word of chrysanthemum and dew, it is a finished reply.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Since from its first two leaves it was a chrysanthemum of a famous garden, no dew ever fell that marked it off as a shallow hue

Since from its first two
leaves it was a chrysanthemum
of a famous garden,
no dew ever fell that marked
it off as a shallow hue