In name alone
stands the field-warden of death—
this very morning
it cries, for they have sung
of many huts for it.
- Meaning
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The cuckoo, called only by name the warden of the fields of death, cries this morning, for it has been said that it has many huts and belongs to none.
- Commentary
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Episode Forty-Three: "Cuckoo"
There was a prince known as Prince Kaya. He had taken a liking to a certain lady-in-waiting and found various pretexts to summon her. Another man also showed her favor, believing in his ease that he alone had ties with her. A third man, having heard that she was coquettish and inconstant, sent her a letter adorned with a painting of a cuckoo and wrote, "Cuckoo—since there are so many villages where you go on singing, still, though I think of you, I cannot hold you dear."
This poem is her reply. Perceiving that the man had feelings for her, she answered in this way.
“Field-warden of death” refers to the cuckoo. It is a migratory bird that comes from the south in the Fifth Month and returns south in the Eighth or Ninth Month. Here the name carries a reproach for not settling in one place. It is said to be the transformed soul of the King of Shu, and also a bird that crosses the mountains between this world and the land of the dead. Because it cries incessantly during the busy season of rice planting in the Fifth Month, urging on the labor, it is called the field-warden of death.
- Source
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Ise Monogatari
- Other
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