The maidenflowers
of Asa Field in the deep
mist of the morning:
only the one who has set
his heart on them ever sees

Meaning

The maidenflowers of Asa Field in the deep morning mist are seen only by one who has set his heart on them.

Commentary

Part Three: Agemaki

　Kaoru's reply. He answers that these are not flowers for anyone to look at, and rebukes the lightness of Niou's interest. Even so, he was in the end to bring Niou to Uji and see him joined with Naka no Kimi.

　Asa no hara is a poetic place name in Yamato, and asa also means morning. He takes over the maidenflowers, moves them to another field, and adds the condition of deep morning mist, so that they become flowers not easily seen. The repetition in "only one who sees, sees" presses the sense that they are for the qualified alone.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

What is in the mind of the lady who dyes them I cannot make out, yet surely it is the one that changes that goes deeper
Fencing off the wide field where the maidenflowers have come into bloom, is it with so small a heart that you rope it as your own
Am I, who served as guide, the one to lose his way coming back again, on this road in the half dark where my heart has not gone through
Think, then, of a heart that spends its days in the dark on this side and that, if you go astray upon a road no one sent you down

The maidenflowers of Asa Field in the deep mist of the morning: only the one who has set his heart on them ever sees

The maidenflowers
of Asa Field in the deep
mist of the morning:
only the one who has set
his heart on them ever sees