30 The Japanese Floral Calendar. 



used for felicitous occasions, the fuji must not be employed 

 at weddings on account of its purple color." 



This blossom often gives its name to girls; one of the 

 heroines of the Genji Monogatari is the Princess Wistaria. 

 Concerning another heroine of that book, Prince Genji, 

 the hero, sang as follows : 



"When will be mine this lovely flower 



Of tender grace and purple hue ? 

 Like the wistaria of the bower, 



Its charms are lovely to my view." 



It has become famous in Japanese history through the 

 Fuji war a family. 



The following are other examples of wistaria 1 poems 

 from Japanese literature: 



"I come weary, 

 In search of an inn 

 Ah! these wistaria flowers." 



"O lovely wistaria, now in bloom, 



Twine thy twigs, even though broken, 

 To those people who pass by thee, 



Without stopping to admire thy beauty. 



"Men dare not pass away without looking 



At the wistaria, in a wave of beauty, 

 Though my small garden be humble, 

 With nothing attractive for the eye." 



"In blossom the wistaria-trees to-day 

 Break forth that sweep the wavelets of my lake : 

 When will the mountain cuckoo come and make 

 The garden vocal with his first sweet lay?" 



And Piggott quotes a prose version of another poem, 

 as follows: 



"What, though I be outside the ring-fence and can not sit be- 

 neath thy shade, thou sendest, gentle Wistaria, thy fragrance across 

 it to me, treating me like a friend." 



1 Often misspelled "wisteria" ; this is incorrect, because the flower was 

 named for Caspar Wistar. 



