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- Kokin Wakashu
Yayo ya mate yamahototogisu kotozutemu
ware yo no naka ni sumiwabinu to yo
Ah, wait a while, O cuckoo returning to the mountains; carry a message for me—that I have grown weary of living in this world.
Kokin Wakashu - Mikuni no Machi
Samidare ni mono omoi oreba hototogisu
yo fukaku nakite izuchi yukunamu
While I am lost in thought in the early summer rain, a cuckoo cries late into the night and flies off—where has it gone?
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori
Yo ya kuraki michi ya madoeru hototogisu
waga yado o shi mo sugigate ni naku
Is it because the night is dark, or has it lost its way? The cuckoo cries on, unable to pass beyond my dwelling.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tomonori
Yadori seshi hanatachibana mo karenaku ni
nado hototogisu koe taenuramu
Though the orange blossoms where it once lodged have not yet withered, why has the cuckoo’s cry fallen silent?
Kokin Wakashu - Oe no Chisato
Natsu no yo no fusu ka to sureba hototogisu
naku hitokoe ni akuru shinonome
On a summer night, just as I seem to fall asleep, a single cry of the cuckoo—and already dawn begins to break.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Kururu ka to mireba akenuru natsu no yo o
akazu to ya naku yamahototogisu
Just as it seems to grow dark, it is already dawn—does the cuckoo in the hills cry because it cannot have its fill of such a brief summer night?
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Natsuyama ni koishiki hito ya irinikemu
koe furitatete naku hototogisu
Has the one it longs for gone into the summer mountains? The cuckoo cries out, raising its voice again and again.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Akimine
Kozo no natsu nakifurushite hototogisu
sore ka aranu ka koe no kawaranu
Is it the same cuckoo that cried so much last summer, or another? Its voice has not changed at all.
Kokin Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Samidare no sora mo todoro ni hototogisu
nani o ushi to ka yo tada nakuramu
In the resounding skies of the Fifth Month rains, the cuckoo cries on—what sorrow does it bear, that it calls so endlessly?
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Hototogisu koe mo kikoezu yamabiko wa
hoka ni naku ne o kotae ya wa senu
No cuckoo’s voice is heard here at all; why does the mountain echo not carry to me the cry from elsewhere?
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Hototogisu hito matsuyama ni naku nareba
ware uchitsuke ni koimasarikeri
Because the cuckoo cries upon the mountain where one waits for another, I too suddenly feel my longing deepen.
Kokin Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Mukashibe ya ima mo koishiki hototogisu
furusato ni shi mo nakite kitsuramu
Is it longing for the past even now, that the cuckoo comes to my former home and sings there as it once did?
Kokin Wakashu - Mibu no Tadamine
Hototogisu ware to wa nashi ni u no hana no
ukiyo no naka ni nakiwataruramu
Though it is not myself, the cuckoo seems to cry as it flies through this sorrowful world, as if it shared my lot.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune
Hachisuba no nigori ni shimanu kokoro mote
nani ka wa tsuyu o tama to azamuku
Though lotus leaves grow in muddy water without being stained, why do they, with such a pure heart, make the dew upon them appear like a jewel and thus deceive?
Kokin Wakashu - Sojo Henjo
Natsu no yo wa mada yoi nagara akenuru o
kumo no izuko ni tsuki wa yadoramu
On a summer night, while I still think it is only early evening, dawn has already come—where among the clouds does the moon now find its lodging?
Kokin Wakashu - Fukayabu
Chiri o dani sueji to zo omou sakishi yori
imo to waga nuru tokonatsu no hana
Since it first bloomed, I have thought not even dust should touch it—this pink, cherished as though I slept beside my beloved.
Kokin Wakashu - Oshikochi no Mitsune