The title comes from the waka poems exchanged between Gen no Naishinosuke and Hikaru Genji: 'Alas, how fickle it is! For all my having been waiting for this festival, which is said to have a miraculous virtue, thinking that it would be the day to meet you, without knowing someone else had already seen you with the raising hollyhock over her hand.' and 'You held up the hollyhock of the day of meeting not only to see me but also as many as eighty clans, didn't you? Isn't it fickle enough to feel unpleasant?'.
巻名は光源氏と源典侍の歌「はかなしや人のかざせるあふひゆえ神のゆるしのけふを待ちける」および「かざしける心ぞあだに思ほゆる八十氏人になべてあふひを」に由来する。