あしびきの山郭公をりはへて
たれかまさるとねをのみぞなく
たれかまさるとねをのみぞなく
- Roma-ji
-
Ashibiki no yamahototogisu orihaete
tare ka masaru to ne o nomi zo naku - English Translation
-
From mountain depths,
the cuckoos come and cry,
one after another—
as though asking aloud,
who among them surpasses all.
- Meaning
- The cuckoos coming from the mountains keep crying, as though calling out, ‘who among us is the best?’
- Commentary
-
Book III, Summer Poems
The cuckoos are depicted as crying one after another, as if competing with one another.
If the particle “ka” in “tare ka masaru” is taken rhetorically, it can imply that none surpasses oneself.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- When I call to mind, Mount Tokiwa’s cuckoo cries out aloud, as though crimson dye were poured forth from its breast.
- Your voice I hear, but never see your tears, o cuckoo crying— take, then, my sleeves instead, soaked through with falling tears.
- Do not now return to the mountains, cuckoo bird— you have come at last; as long as your voice endures, cry here at my dwelling.
- Ah, wait a while— o cuckoo returning to the mountain home; bear a message for me: I am weary of this world.