THE WISTARIA. 27 



It has become famous in Japanese history through the Fuji- 

 wara family. 



The following are other examples of wistaria* 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 fol- 

 lows : 



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

 shade, thou sendest, gentle Wistaria, thy fragrance across it to me, treating 

 me like a friend.'' 



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

 named for Caspar Wistar. 



