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“Yet surely, in the world of humans, no one goes out of their way to run down a person who hasn't really made it in the world, or whose reputation is already on the wane. And no one would pause to savour the sight or the sound of some boring bird such as a kite or a crow. So, really, it's precisely because the uguisu is supposed to be such a marvellous bird that one's perversely more aware of its failings.” — Sei Shōnagon
Yet surely, in the world of humans, no one goes out of their way to run down a person who hasn't really made it in the world, or whose reputation is already on the wane. And no one would pause to savour the sight or the sound of some boring bird such as a kite or a crow. So, really, it's precisely because the uguisu is supposed to be such a marvellous bird that one's perversely more aware of its failings.