"Hanachirusato" is literally "a village where flowers fall." Genji visits a woman in this village and gives her a poem in which this phrase occurs. The chapter "Falling Flowers" takes place in roughly the same period covered by the previous one, "The Green Branch." It takes place in the 5th month and Genji is 25 years old. This is a very short chapter.
Genji is discouraged by the course his life is taking - his great love, Fujitsubo, has suddenly become a nun and is inaccessible. During the Rainy Season in the 5th month (our June) - when there is a break in the rains - Genji recalls the younger sister of Lady Reikeiden (Reikeiden no Nyogo), a minor consort of his father, Emperor Kiritsubo (whose death has been reported in the previous chapter). Both sisters have received the protection and assistance of Genji after
the death of the Kiritsubo emperor - Reikeiden has remained childless - and they live quietly in the
countryside. Genji decides to visit them. Reikeiden's younger sister is the one called "Hanachirusato" (her title was Sanno-kun), and Genji has had a brief affair with her in the past.
On his way to the sisters, Genji, who rides without escort (but definitely not alone, he is amongst others accompanied by his confidant Koremitsu), spots a little house among handsome trees near the Nakagawa River from which issue the pleasing sounds of a koto. Genji remembers that once before he has visited a woman here and stops to send in a suggestive poem. She sends back a poem that contains a gentle rejection. Genji rides on claiming to have "the wrong house," - in reality, he thinks, the lady may have taken another lover and he should not disturb her. "Genji seems to have cared forever for each of his loves," writes Murasaki Shikibu.
So he continues to the dwelling of the Reikeiden Consort, with whom he spends the evening talking over old times. From the garden comes the scent of orange blossoms (tachibana), while the hototogisu (lesser cuckoo) is calling. Genji has heard the same bird near the house of the Nakagawa River earlier on. Later that evening, Genji discreetly visits the sister, Hanachirusato in another part of the house.
It seems that Murasaki Shikibu has included this short chapter to highlight the gentleness of Genji's character and his continuing care for the women whom he has met in the past. It is a quiet, melancholy interlude, before the storm will overtake him in the next chapter.
Hanachirusato has a trustworthy and gentle nature, and Genji will later in the story (in the chapter Matsukaze) take her as one of his wives into his new mansion in Kyoto. Still later, she will also act as a mother for Genji's children Yugiri and Tamakazura.
Genji-e: Illustrations of this very short chapter usually show Genji talking with the two sisters. In the garden are orange blossoms (a common symbol for past lovers) illuminated by a three-quarter moon while a hototogisu sings.
Hanachirusato appears as main character in a short story by Marguerite Yourcenar, "The Last Love of Prince Genji," in the anthology Oriental Tales (Nouvelles orientales, 1938).
Reading The Tale of Genji