The hedge chrysanthemum,
its color deepening now,
seems to long, at times,
for that autumn long ago
when we danced with trailing sleeves
- Meaning
-
The hedge chrysanthemum, its color deepening now, seems at times to long for that autumn when we danced with trailing sleeves.
- Commentary
-
Part One: Fujiura
Past the twentieth of the Tenth Month, with the maples at their height, the Reizei Emperor made a progress to the Rokujo estate, and Retired Emperor Suzaku came as well—an occasion of unheard-of splendor. There were the ceremonies at the riding pavilion, the cormorant fishing, the maples to admire; and as evening drew on, the page boys danced. During the piece called Gaoon, the Chancellor's youngest son, a boy of ten or so, danced beautifully, and when the Emperor took off a robe and gave it to him, the Chancellor went down below the stairs to make his dance of thanks. Watching, Genji remembered the day, long ago at Suzaku's Festival of the Maples, when he and the then Captain—now Chancellor—had danced Seigaiha together; and having a chrysanthemum broken off, he addressed him with this poem.
"Iro masaru" is deepening in color through the autumn. "The hedge chrysanthemum" is the Chancellor. "From time to time" is now and again. "The autumn we danced with trailing sleeves" is the day the two of them danced Seigaiha at the Festival of the Maples. The chrysanthemum, deepening now, seems to long for that old autumn—which is to say: you, risen to Chancellor, must long for the autumn we danced together in our youth. The flower recalls the day when, seeing Genji's face outshone by the scattered maple leaves, the Captain replaced his headdress with a chrysanthemum: a memory the two of them alone share. At the summit of Part One's glory, it is an exchange of deep feeling with the friend of his youth.
- Author
-
Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
-
Genji Monogatari
- Other
-