history
Closing line of Wang Wei's 《九月九日忆山东兄弟》 (On the 9th of the 9th Month, Remembering My Brothers East of the Mountains, written at 17 while studying in Chang'an): 独在异乡为异客，每逢佳节倍思亲。遥知兄弟登高处，遍插茱萸少一人 (Alone in a strange land, a stranger's stranger; every festival redoubles my longing for kin. Far away I know - my brothers, climbing the heights, all wear cornel sprigs - but one fewer now). 茱萸 (Cornus officinalis) was worn on Chongyang (Double Ninth) Festival to ward off evil. The final image - imagining the scene from which you are absent - is one of the most piercing moments in Chinese poetry.
usage
茱萸 is zhūyú (Japanese cornel / dogwood, a medicinal plant with small red fruits), NOT zhīyú. The line is quoted every Chongyang Festival (9th day of 9th lunar month) and whenever someone is absent from a family gathering.
