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It was in new spring, in a fair month, When the air was clear and the wind a gentle breeze. Plum flowers blossomed a beauty's charming white And the fragrance of the orchids was their sweet perfume.
The Man'yōshū passage alludes in turn to a rhapsody written in 138 CE by the Han polymath and statesman Zhang Heng, titled 歸田賦 / 归田赋(Guītián Fù, “Return to the Field”).[1] Below is the relevant part of the rhapsody with translation by Liu Wu-chi (1990), with slightly different choices of English for the same Chinese words:
Then comes young spring, in a fine month, When the wind is mild and the air clear. Plains and swamps are overgrown with verdure And the hundred grasses become rank and thick.
With reference to both contexts, a general understanding of this kanji compound is thus along the lines of "goodharmony", though it should be noted that this sense of "good" of the common character 令(rei) is otherwise very rare.