The Fortune Tree

Japanese: 連理の木 - れんりのき

A type of auspicious sign in China. A tree with separate roots and trunks, but branches that join together. Also called mu-renri. In the Fengshan chapter of "Bai Hu Tong," it is said that when the blessings of a king's virtue extend to the grass and trees, vermilion grass and intertwined trees will grow. It is also used as an analogy for the deep love between a man and a woman, and is famously sung in Bai Juyi's (Rakuten) "Song of Everlasting Regret," "In heaven, we may wish to become birds with two wings, and on earth, we may wish to become intertwined branches." [Yoshikawa Tadao]

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

中国における祥瑞（しようずい）の一種。根や幹は別々だが，枝がひとつに合わさっている木。木連理ともいう。《白虎通》封禅篇には，王者の徳のめぐみが草木にまでおよぶとき，朱草や連理の木が生ずるといっている。男女のちぎり深い仲のたとえにも用いられ，白居易(楽天)の《長恨歌》に〈天に在っては願わくは比翼の鳥となり，地に在っては願わくは連理の枝とならん〉とうたわれているのは有名。【吉川忠夫】

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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