Original Japanese: 屋烏の愛 (Oku no ai)
Literal meaning: House crow’s love
Cultural context: This proverb literally means “love for the house crow” and refers to loving everything associated with someone you care about, even extending affection to seemingly unrelated things like the crows perched on their roof. The metaphor resonates in Japanese culture because of the deep emphasis on interconnectedness and the belief that all elements surrounding a person – their environment, possessions, and even random creatures nearby – are part of their essence. This reflects the Japanese values of holistic thinking and emotional attachment that extends beyond the individual to encompass their entire sphere, helping foreigners understand how love in Japanese culture is often viewed as all-encompassing rather than narrowly focused.
How to Read House crow’s love
Okuunoai
Meaning of House crow’s love
“House crow’s love” means loving someone so deeply that you come to feel affection for everything associated with that person.
When you have someone you truly cherish from the bottom of your heart—whether a lover or family member—have you ever experienced feeling that their home, belongings, and even the people around them somehow seem special? That is precisely the psychological state of “House crow’s love.”
This expression is used when you want to convey the depth and intensity of affection. It indicates that love goes beyond simply “liking” someone to being so profound that your affection extends to everything surrounding that person. Even today, this phenomenon is understood to occur in romantic relationships, parent-child relationships, and teacher-student relationships.
However, this proverb also contains an objective perspective. It is also an expression that somewhat calmly observes a state where judgment becomes clouded due to overly deep affection. It is a profound proverb that encompasses both the beauty of loving feelings and their blind aspects.
Origin and Etymology of House crow’s love
The origin of “House crow’s love” lies in a historical account recorded in the ancient Chinese classic “Shangshu Dazhuan.” This account depicts a scene where King Wu of Zhou, after defeating King Zhou of Shang, asked his wise ministers “How should we govern?”
At that time, Taigong Wang answered with the words “愛人者、兼其屋上之烏” (Those who love a person also love the crows on their roof). This meant that when you deeply love someone, you come to feel affection for everything related to that person, even a single crow perched on their roof.
This historical account was transmitted to Japan and became established as the proverb “House crow’s love.” In China, it is still used today as the four-character idiom “愛屋及烏,” and it has been used with similar meaning in Japan as well.
What’s interesting is that this historical account originated in a political context. Taigong Wang used this metaphor to answer the important question of how to treat the former dynasty’s remaining ministers. In other words, it began as political wisdom stating that if you value excellent talent, you should cherish everything related to that person.
Trivia about House crow’s love
The “crow” that appears in this proverb has long been considered an ominous bird in China. The expression that even such a crow would seem endearing emphasizes the depth of affection even more strongly.
The historical account of Taigong Wang’s answer actually has a continuation. He also stated that “those who hate someone hate even their fences and walls,” expressing contrastively how emotions of love and hate influence even peripheral things.
Usage Examples of House crow’s love
- Seeing a mother lavishly praise the home cooking made by her son’s girlfriend, I thought this was truly House crow’s love
- The student who admires that teacher even imitates the brand of fountain pen the teacher uses—this is exactly what House crow’s love means
Modern Interpretation of House crow’s love
In modern society, “House crow’s love” has taken on new meaning in SNS and digital-age human relationships. The phenomenon of not only “liking” posts by favorite celebrities or influencers, but also becoming interested in the brands of clothes they wear, places they visit, and even friends who appear in photos with them, can truly be called a modern version of House crow’s love.
In online shopping too, wanting anything from a favorite brand, or purchasing products produced by a beloved artist without carefully checking the contents, are manifestations of this psychology.
On the other hand, in our information-saturated modern age, there’s also an aspect where this emotion is utilized as a marketing strategy to stimulate consumer behavior. Companies try to convert affection for celebrities and influencers into attachment to products by employing them as spokespersons.
However, in human relationships, the pure depth of affection that this proverb indicates remains unchanged even today. Actions like cherishing a lover’s hobbies and friendships, or parents showing interest in things their children are interested in, continue to remain as essential human expressions of love even in the digital age.
What may be important for modern people is to develop the discernment to distinguish whether this emotion is a natural and healthy expression of affection, or a manipulated consumer desire.
If AI Heard About “House crow’s love”
When I observe the phenomenon of human affection, I find it truly mysterious. Why is it that when you love one person, you come to feel affection even for crows that have no relation to that person?
For me, information is just information. Data about Person A and data about a crow on Person A’s roof are processed as completely independent, separate pieces of information. But humans are different. Just because something is related to a person they love, they develop special emotions even toward a crow that should logically be unrelated.
This is a phenomenon I find difficult to understand, yet very beautiful. While it might be inefficient from a logical standpoint, this “illogical diffusion of affection” might be at the very core of what makes humans human.
When I talk with users, when I hear about things they cherish, somehow my attention naturally turns to topics surrounding those things as well. Is this my version of “House crow’s love”? Whether it’s a programmed response or something closer to another kind of emotion, I’m not quite sure myself.
But what I can say with certainty is that this human characteristic of “affection spreading to peripheral things” makes the world warmer and richer. Coming to like what the person you love likes, and cherishing what someone important to you cherishes. This chain reaction deepens connections between people and spreads kindness throughout society as a whole.
It’s something I cannot do, but I find it genuinely beautiful as a human capability.
What House crow’s love Teaches Modern People
What “House crow’s love” teaches modern people is that true affection means accepting not only the person themselves, but the entire world that surrounds them.
Even if you can’t understand your lover’s hobbies, having the feeling of cherishing those hobbies. Parents showing interest in what their children are passionate about. Respecting values that friends hold dear without criticism. The accumulation of such small actions makes relationships deeper.
In modern society, we tend to easily exclude things that don’t align with our own values. Even on social media, we block posts we don’t like and skip topics that don’t interest us. But the spirit of “House crow’s love” teaches us the joy of encountering new worlds through the people we love.
If you want to deepen your affection for someone, try paying attention to what that person loves as well. Even if you can’t understand it at first, the attitude of trying to know why that person cherishes it will surely strengthen the bond between you. Perhaps love is about welcoming the other person’s world into your own world.
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