Even the caged bird
I envy—the mountain tit—
while I keep myself,
with all that I amount to,
hidden in this humble hut
- Meaning
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I envy even the caged bird, the mountain tit, while I keep myself and all I amount to hidden away in this poor hut.
- Commentary
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Volume Eight: The Progress to the Mountain
This is the second of the two poems Norimitsu left anonymously in the palace, set beside the first.
He was the man who had physically stopped the Fourth Prince from being carried off to the west. The summons from the cloistered emperor came the next day, and the prince's fortune opened. But no word came to Norimitsu, and the months went by.
The yamagara is the varied tit, a small bird kept in a cage and taught tricks. A caged bird is not free—but it is at least kept by someone. To envy even that is to say that no one keeps him at all.
The "gourd-flower hut" recalls the Yūgao chapter of the Tale of Genji: a shabby house with the pale flowers on its fence. To "hide what one amounts to" is to live inconspicuously, concealing one's low standing.
In neither poem is there a single word asking for reward. What he protests is only that he has been forgotten. The first calls out to be remembered; this one draws a picture of his present state. Appeal and self-portrait together complete the plea.
The prince heard of it, summoned him, and made him junior third rank at once. A poem moved an appointment—the same pattern as in Volume Four, where Yorimasa gained admission to the palace and then the third rank by his poems of complaint. A warrior asking for office and a courtier protesting that he has been forgotten answer each other across four volumes.
kago no uchi……inside a cage.
urayamashi……enviable.
yamagara……the varied tit, kept caged and taught tricks.
mi no hodo……one's station in life.
kakusu……to hide.
yūgao no yado……a poor house with gourd-flowers at the fence; recalling the Genji chapter.
rakusho……an anonymous poem left where it will be found.
jukkai……a statement of one's circumstances, especially of neglect.
- Source
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Heike Monogatari
- Other
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