Hana no En (花宴)
Hana no En (The Festival of the Cherry Blossoms) is one of the fifty-four chapters of "The Tale of Genji." It is the eighth chapter.
Summary
At the festival of the cherry blossoms at the Shishinden (The Throne Hall) in February, Hikaru Genji composed Chinese poems and showed off dances together with To no Chujo and others. After it ended, Genji happened to enter the Kokiden building due to the alluring night with a hazy spring moon, met a young lady there and had an affair with her. The lady, who he exchanged fans with and said good-bye to without knowing who she was, was the sixth daughter of the Udaijin (Minister of the Right) (Oborozukiyo [The Tale of Genji]) who was to enter the court of Emperor Suzaku. A month later, Genji was invited to the banquet of the wisteria at the residence of the Udaijin. He appeared there in carefully chosen dress, read a poem to a lady whose face he cannot see through a screen, and found the lady he was searching for.