Even the hako
bird that has fixed its own roost
in the deep hill trees—
how could it ever grow tired
of the color of blossoms

Meaning

Even the hako bird that has fixed its roost in the trees of the deep hills—how could it ever tire of the color of blossoms?

Commentary

Part Two: Wakana Jo

　Yugiri answered Kashiwagi's poem with this one. His father has indeed made his roost with Murasaki no Ue, he grants, but that is not the same as making little of the Third Princess. Yugiri sensed what lay under the question, went no further, and turned the conversation. Kashiwagi's feeling did not settle; before long he was sending a letter in to the Princess through Kojiju. The alternate name of this chapter, "Hako Bird," comes from this poem.

　"The trees of the deep hills" are an image for a place one does not leave, and here they are Murasaki no Ue. The hako bird takes up Kashiwagi's warbler and means Genji. "How could it ever" is a rhetorical question that amounts to flat denial. Using the other man's birds and blossoms unchanged and reversing only the conclusion is a very deft piece of exchange. The pair of poems lays out Yugiri's good sense and, against it, an ardor Kashiwagi cannot keep down.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Even the hako bird that has fixed its own roost in the deep hill trees— how could it ever grow tired of the color of blossoms

Even the hako
bird that has fixed its own roost
in the deep hill trees—
how could it ever grow tired
of the color of blossoms