深山木にねぐら定むるはこ鳥も
いかでか花の色に飽くべき
いかでか花の色に飽くべき
- Roma-ji
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Miyamagi ni negura sadamuru hakodori mo
ikade ka hana no iro ni akubeki - English Translation
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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
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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
- Prev Poem
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Ika nareba hana ni kozutau uguisu no
sakura o wakite negura to wa senu - Next Poem
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Yoso ni mite oranu nageki wa shigeredomo
nagori koishiki hana no yūkage