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- Shui Wakashu
Ie ni kite nani o kataramu ashihiki no yamahototogisu hitokoe mo gana
When I return home, what shall I tell them? Mountain cuckoo, if only you would sing just once.
Shui Wakashu - Kume no Hironawa
Yamazato ni shiru hito mo gana hototogisu nakinu to kikaba tsuge ni kuru gani
If only I had someone I knew in the mountain village, so that when they heard the cuckoo sing, they would come to let me know.
Shui Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Yamazato ni yadorazariseba hototogisu kiku hito mo naki ne o ya nakamashi
Had I not stayed in this mountain village, would the cuckoo have sung its song with no one to hear it?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Honoka ni zo nakiwataru naru hototogisu miyama o izuru kesa no hatsukoe
Faintly, it seems to sing as it crosses the sky, the cuckoo's first song this morning as it comes out of the deep mountains.
Shui Wakashu - Sakanoue no Mochiki
Miyama idete yowa ni ya kitsuru hototogisu akatsuki kakete koe no kikoyuru
Did you leave the deep mountains and come here in the middle of the night, cuckoo? Your voice can be heard on into the dawn.
Shui Wakashu - Taira no Kanemori
Miyakobito nede matsurame ya hototogisu ima zo yamabe o nakite izu naru
Do the people of the capital wait up without sleeping? Surely not. Yet even now the cuckoo seems to be coming out of the hills, singing as it goes.
Shui Wakashu - The Mother of Fujiwara no Michitsuna
Yamagatsu to hito wa iedomo hototogisu mazu hatsukoe wa ware nomi zo kiku
People may call me a mountain rustic, yet I alone am the first to hear the cuckoo's first song.
Shui Wakashu - Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Sayo fukete nezamezariseba hototogisu hitozute ni koso kikubekarikere
Had I not woken late in the night, I would have heard of the cuckoo's song only secondhand from others.
Shui Wakashu - Mibu no Tadami
Futakoe to kiku to wa nashi ni hototogisu yobukaku me o mo samashitsuru kana
Though I did not hear the cuckoo sing a second time, its single cry has woken me deep in the night.
Shui Wakashu - Ise
Yukiyarade yamaji kurashitsu hototogisu ima hitokoe no kikamahoshisa ni
Unable to go on, I have spent the whole day on the mountain path, all for wanting to hear the cuckoo sing just one more time.
Shui Wakashu - Minamoto no Kintada
Kono sato ni ika naru hito ka iei shite yamahototogisu taezu kikuramu
What kind of person has made a home in this village, to hear the mountain cuckoo singing without end?
Shui Wakashu - Ki no Tsurayuki
Samidare wa chikaku narurashi yodogawa no ayame no kusa mo mikusa oinikeri
The early summer rains must be drawing near, for along the Yodo River the iris grass has grown thick among the water plants.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Kinō made yoso ni omoishi ayamegusa kyō waga yado no tsuma to miru kana
Until yesterday I thought the iris grass had nothing to do with me, but today I see it at the eaves of my house as dear as a wife.
Shui Wakashu - Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Kyō mireba tama no utena mo nakarikeri ayame no kusa no iori nomi shite
Looking today, there are no jeweled palaces at all, it seems, only huts thatched with iris grass.
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet
Ashihiki no yamahototogisu kyō tote ya ayame no kusa no ne ni tatete naku
Is it because today is the festival that the mountain cuckoo raises its voice in song, as the iris raises its roots?
Shui Wakashu - Emperor Daigo
Ta ga sode ni omoi yosoete hototogisu hanatachibana no eda ni nakuran
Whose sleeves, I wonder, does the cuckoo liken them to, singing on the branches of the flowering mandarin orange?
Shui Wakashu - Unknown Poet