香をとめて来つるかひなくおほかたの
花のたよりと言ひやなすべき
花のたよりと言ひやなすべき
- Roma-ji
-
Ka o tomete kitsuru kai naku ōkata no
hana no tayori to ii ya nasubeki - English Translation
-
Then all my coming
here in search of the fragrance
is for nothing, and
you will call it no more than
an ordinary flower-viewing
- Meaning
- Then my coming here in search of the fragrance counts for nothing, and you will call it no more than an ordinary flower-viewing.
- Commentary
-
Part Two: Maboroshi
Prince Hyobu answered Genji's poem with this one. He had not come for the scent of plum but for Genji himself, he says, and to be called a flower-viewer is hard. He was Genji's half-brother, the elegant prince who had once courted Tamakazura, and the ease between them shows in the exchange. The brothers talked of the past until dusk, looked out at the plum, and wept.
"In search of the fragrance" has the scent, and behind it Genji himself. "Counts for nothing" is having come to no purpose. "An ordinary flower-viewing" is a call made in passing. He takes up the flowers and the spring of Genji's poem and answers that flowers were not what brought him—a warm reply, well suited to a visit that is at once a New Year call and an act of condolence.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Genji Monogatari
- Prev Poem
-
Waga yado wa hana motehayasu hito mo nashi
nani ni ka haru no tazune kitsuramu - Next Poem
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Ukiyo ni wa yuki kienamu to omoitsutsu
omoi no hoka ni nao zo hodo furu