How to Read “The flowers I want to pick, but the branches are high”
Hana wa oritashi kozue wa takashi
Meaning of “The flowers I want to pick, but the branches are high”
This proverb describes situations where you want something but cannot reach it, leaving you no choice but to give up.
It comes from the image of wanting to pick beautiful flowers, but they bloom on high branches beyond your reach.
The saying expresses the frustration of having what you desire right in front of you, yet being unable to obtain it due to some obstacle.
People use this proverb when ability, social position, or financial reasons keep them from reaching their goals.
It applies when you admire someone romantically but cannot approach them due to differences in status or position.
It fits when you want to buy something but it costs too much. It works when you have a goal but achieving it seems realistically impossible.
Today, people understand it as expressing the painful feeling of facing walls you cannot overcome even with effort.
The proverb does not just show resignation. It also captures the complex emotion of continuing to hold onto your longing despite everything.
Origin and Etymology
The exact source of this proverb remains unclear. However, its structure brilliantly expresses the relationship between Japanese views of nature and human desire.
The phrase “hana wa oritashi” uses the classical auxiliary verb “tashi” to express a wish. It means “I want to pick.”
When people find beautiful flowers, they naturally want to hold them. But the reality of “kozue wa takashi” stands in the way.
Kozue means the tips of tree branches. They sit high up where no amount of reaching can touch them.
This expression likely emerged from the Japanese culture of admiring flowers like cherry blossoms and plum blossoms since ancient times.
When spring arrived, people went out to view flowers. They gazed at beautiful blooms.
During these moments, they probably noticed that the most beautiful flowers bloomed on the highest branches.
The universal human emotions of longing and resignation toward beautiful things beyond reach became connected to the concrete images of flowers and branches.
This expression appears in documents from the Edo period. This means the proverb has a history of at least several hundred years.
Interesting Facts
The word “kozue” in this proverb refers to the tips of tree branches.
Japanese literature has long used it as a symbol of unreachable heights, similar to “flowers on a high peak.”
Flowers blooming on branch tips appear most beautiful to people looking up from the ground. This creates a visual effect.
This overlaps with human psychology where things farther away seem more attractive.
Interestingly, actual botany supports this observation. Flowers at higher positions receive more sunlight.
They tend to grow more vibrant in color and larger in size. The scene this proverb depicts is not just metaphor.
“The higher the branch, the more beautiful the flower” reflects an actual phenomenon in nature.
Usage Examples
- I want to go to that university, but the tuition is too expensive. It’s truly “The flowers I want to pick, but the branches are high.”
- I want to confess to her, but someone like me probably has no chance. It’s “The flowers I want to pick, but the branches are high.”
Universal Wisdom
This proverb has been passed down because it perfectly captures a universal conflict everyone experiences: the fundamental human tension between desire and limitation.
People constantly want something. It might be an object, a position, or another person.
Interestingly, what people desire most strongly are things that seem almost within reach but are not.
We feel no longing for things in completely distant worlds beyond our connection. But for things we can see yet cannot reach, we feel intense craving.
The “flowers” in this proverb are exactly that. You can see them. You understand their beauty. But you cannot reach them.
This situation of “visible but unreachable” most deeply stirs the human heart.
A deeper truth emerges when facing this situation. People get torn between two emotions.
One is the voice of reason saying “you should give up.” The other is the voice of desire saying “I still want it.”
This proverb contains both. The wish of “oritashi” and the reality of “takashi.” Between these two words lies humanity’s eternal conflict.
Our ancestors understood that this conflict is life itself. No one lives a life where everything is obtainable.
Everyone lives while giving up something. This is not unfortunate at all. It is proof of being human.
When AI Hears This
Looking at this proverb through optimization theory reveals interesting discoveries.
It normally appears as a story about the constraint “flowers on high branches cannot be picked.”
But it actually depicts a typical trade-off curve where two variables, “desirability” and “accessibility,” are inversely correlated.
Imagine a graph. Put achievement difficulty on the horizontal axis and satisfaction on the vertical axis.
Low flowers are easy to pick but give 60 points of satisfaction. High flowers give 100 points of satisfaction but have only 20 percent success rate.
The important point is that either choice sacrifices something. This is called Pareto optimality.
It means any state where improving one aspect necessarily worsens another.
What makes this more interesting is that the optimal solution is not fixed.
Whether you have a ladder, companions, or time changes the constraint conditions. The optimal choice also shifts.
The same applies to romance. Your market value and distance from the other person change “which target you should aim for.”
Many people struggle with the binary choice of “high flower or low flower.” But optimization theory shows a third path.
Change the constraint conditions themselves. Prepare a ladder. Accumulate satisfaction from multiple medium-height flowers.
This proverb actually teaches the importance of redesigning the constraints themselves, not just choosing within constraints.
Lessons for Today
This proverb teaches us who live in modern times “how to face things beyond our reach.”
Life always contains things you cannot obtain no matter how much you want them.
It might be the limit of your abilities. It might be a matter of timing. It might be something you can only call fate.
What matters is accepting that reality. Doing your best within your current reach has far more value than overreaching and falling.
However, this does not mean abandoning your dreams.
Even if flowers on high branches are unreachable now, you might reach them after growing over time.
You might find another method. Or you might notice other beautiful flowers blooming at your feet.
This proverb encourages calm self-awareness. Accurately grasp where you stand now. Focus on what you can do today.
At the same time, keep believing in your potential for growth. The balance between both is the key to living a fulfilling life.
Do not lament what you cannot reach. Instead, develop eyes that find value in what you can obtain now.
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