Emperor Mura Kami at the palace at Nara, which had died. The fair lady was loath to part with her treasure, so, with a fine eye for effect, wrote a tanka and attached it to the tree when it was taken away. The Emperor was, of course, so struck with the verses that he sent the tree back to her. Here are the verses, as translated by Captain Brinckley:—
“Claimed for our Sovereign’s use,
Blossoms I’ve loved so long,
Can I in duty fail?
But for the nightingale,
Seeking her home of song,
How shall I find excuse?”
The petals from a branch of Plum sometimes fill the rôle of the Marguerite with Japanese girls. Three is the magic number which will bring good luck, if the petals are properly arranged, and if the number is repeated often enough.
The Cherry blossom signifies bodily or sensuous beauty, or, if the man who tells you is very patriotic,—for this may well be called the national flower of Japan,—beauty in the abstract. It does for them all. About it, also, there are pretty legends—the wonder is that there are not more, for, like a lovely, alluring woman, the Cherry blossom would seem born for adventure and story. It is, with the Plum, the
