うぐいすの谷よりいづるこゑなくば
春くることをたれかしらまし
春くることをたれかしらまし
- Roma-ji
-
Uguisu no tani yori izuru koe nakuba
haru kuru koto o tare ka shiramashi - English Translation
-
If from the valley
no voice of the bush warbler
were to come forth,
who then would ever know
that spring has come at all?
- Meaning
- If the bush warbler did not come forth from the valley with its cry, who would ever know that spring has come?
- Commentary
-
Spring Songs, Book One
By imagining the opposite of reality—if there were no cry of the bush warbler—the poet brings out the conjecture in the latter lines.
This is an example of a counterfactual expression.
- Author
- Oe no Chisato
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Hana no ka o kaze no tayori ni taguete zo
uguisu sasou shirube ni wa yaru - Next Poem
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Haru tatedo hana mo niowanu yamazato wa
mono ukaru ne ni uguisu zo naku