ひぐらしの鳴きつるなべに日はくれぬ
と思ふは山の影にぞありける
と思ふは山の影にぞありける
- Roma-ji
-
Higurashi no nakitsuru nabe ni hi wa kurenu
to omou wa yama no kage ni zo arikeru - English Translation
-
As evening cicadas
begin their cries, the day seems done—
so I thought at first;
yet it was but the mountain’s
shadow that had fallen there.
- Meaning
- As the evening cicadas began to cry, I thought the day had already ended—but it was only that we had entered the mountain’s shadow.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
As the higurashi cicadas begin to cry, the scene grows dark, leading one to think that the day has already ended. Yet in truth, the darkness comes from entering the mountain’s shadow.
The word “higurashi” evokes an association with “day’s end,” deepening the impression that evening has already fallen.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- In autumn fields, the waiting cricket’s voice is heard— is it for me, then? I will go and see at once, and pay a visit there tonight.
- Crimson leaves have fallen and lie piled at my dwelling— in this lonely place, for whom does the cricket cry, so many times, in waiting?
- In a mountain village where evening cicadas cry— at dusk’s fading hour, there comes no one to visit but the wind alone that passes.
- Though it is not from the one for whom I wait—still, the first wild goose’s cry heard this morning at dawn is wondrous to my heart.