If you truly bear the name,
come, let me ask you,
O capital bird:
does the one I think upon
still live, or not?
- Meaning
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If you truly bear the name of the capital, come, let me ask you, O capital bird: does the one I think upon still live there, or not?
- Commentary
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Episode Nine: "Chinese robes"
One tale of the "Journey to the East."
A man, thinking himself of no use in this world, left the capital to seek a place to dwell in the Eastern Provinces, setting out with one or two companions.
They reached the Sumida River. Seeing an unfamiliar white bird catching fish and eating them in the river, they asked the boatman what it was, and he replied, "This is the capital bird."
Hearing the name "capital bird" in a land far from the capital where he had long lived, the man composed this poem.
- Source
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Ise Monogatari
- Other
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