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- Manyoshu
Konokure no yūyami naru ni hototogisu izuku o ie to nakiwataruramu
Though it is the gloom of evening beneath the dark trees, where does the hototogisu take as its home, as it flies across singing?
Hototogisu kesa no asake ni nakitsuru wa kimi kikikemu ka asai ka nekemu
The hototogisu that sang at dawn this morning—did you hear it? Or were you still sleeping in?
Hototogisu hanatachibana no e ni ite naki toyomoseba hana wa chiritsutsu
The hototogisu perches on a branch of the flowering tachibana, and as it fills the air with its ringing song, the blossoms keep falling.
Uretaki ya shikohototogisu ima koso ba koe no karu gani kinaki toyomeme
How galling you are, you wretched hototogisu! Now of all times you should come and sing till your voice grows hoarse, filling the air with song.
Koyoi no ōtsukanaki ni hototogisu naku naru koe no oto no harukesa
In the dim uncertainty of tonight, how far away sounds the voice of the hototogisu I hear singing!
Satsukiyama unohanazukuyo hototogisu kikedomo akazu mata nakanu ka mo
Mountains in the Fifth Month, a moonlit night with the deutzia in bloom, and the hototogisu—though I listen, I never tire. Will it not sing once more?
Hototogisu kii mo nakanu ka waga yado no hanatachibana no tsuchi ni ochimu mimu
O hototogisu, won't you come, perch, and sing? I would watch the tachibana blossoms at my home fall to the ground.
Hototogisu itou toki nashi ayamegusa kazura ni semu hi koyu nakiwatare
O hototogisu, there is never a time I tire of you—but on the day we wear iris as garlands, come singing across this way.
Yamato ni wa nakite ka kuramu hototogisu na ga naku goto ni naki hito omōyu
Do you fly singing to Yamato too, O hototogisu? Each time you sing, I think of those who are gone.
Unohana no chiramaku oshimi hototogisu no ni ide yama ni iri kinaki toyomosu
Grieving that the deutzia blossoms must scatter, the hototogisu goes out to the fields and into the hills, coming to sing and fill the air with its song.
Tachibana no hayashi o uemu hototogisu tsune ni fuyu made sumiwataru gane
I will plant a grove of tachibana trees, so that the hototogisu may always dwell there, even into winter.
Amabare no kumo ni taguite hototogisu kasuga o sashite koyu nakiwataru
Keeping company with the clouds that clear after the rain, the hototogisu passes this way singing, bound for Kasuga.
Mono omou to inenu asake ni hototogisu nakite sawataru subenaki made ni
At dawn, after a sleepless night lost in brooding, the hototogisu flies across, singing—till I am at my wits' end.
Waga kinu o kimi ni kise yo to hototogisu ware o unagasu sode ni kiitsutsu
"Let your beloved wear your robe," the hototogisu urges me, coming to perch upon my sleeve.
Motsu hito hototogisu o ya mezurashiku ima ka na ga kuru koitsutsu oreba
My old friend, hototogisu—do you come now, so fresh and welcome, just as I have been longing for you?
Kaku bakari ame no furaku ni hototogisu unohanayama ni nao ka nakuramu
Though the rain falls so heavily, is the hototogisu still singing on the hills where the deutzia blooms?