Yo o itou Yoshino no oku no yobukodori fukaki kokoro no hodo ya shiruran - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世をいとふ吉野の奥の呼子鳥
深き心のほどや知るらん

Roma-ji: Yo o itou Yoshino no oku no yobukodori fukaki kokoro no hodo ya shiruran
English Translation: In Yoshino's depths,
where one flees from the world,
the calling bird cries—
does it know how deep it goes,
the heart that brought me here?
Meaning: The calling bird that cries deep in Yoshino, where I have come to flee the world—does it know how deep my heart is?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1476

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on the things of late spring. The poet asks whether the calling bird crying deep in Yoshino, where he has withdrawn from the world, knows how deep his heart is. The headnote reads "topic unknown," and records nothing of the circumstances of composition.
The author, "Hōin Kōsei," was a monk of the early Kamakura period who held the rank of hōin.
Mount Yoshino is a famous place in Yamato province, known for its cherry blossoms and also regarded as a place where those who had renounced the world lived in seclusion. The calling bird was a spring bird said to cry as if calling to people; which bird it refers to is uncertain.

The first line, "yo o itou," refers to shunning and leaving the world. It shows the heart of one who has entered the depths of Yoshino.
The second line, "Yoshino no oku no," refers to the deep recesses of Yoshino, a place of retreat. As 1466 in this book sang of the blossoms of Yoshino as the place for a renunciant to dwell, this poem too takes Yoshino as the land of those who have left the world.
The third line, "yobukodori," is a bird that cries as if calling to people. There is a contrast in hearing a voice that still calls to people in mountain depths far from the world.
The fourth line, "fukaki kokoro no hodo ya," overlays the depth of Yoshino's recesses with the depth of a heart that shuns the world. The particle "ya" expresses a question.
The last line, "shiruran," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "ya" with the attributive form "ran." It asks whether a bird that calls to people knows the depth of the heart of one who has left them.
Author: Kōsei
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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