Hatsukari no hatsuka ni koe o kikishi yori nakazora ni nomi mono o omou kana - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

初雁のはつかに声を聞きしより
中空にのみ物を思ふかな

Roma-ji: Hatsukari no hatsuka ni koe o kikishi yori nakazora ni nomi mono o omou kana
English Translation: Like the first wild geese
I faintly heard your voice
and since that moment
I drift in the middle sky
lost in thoughts of love
Meaning: Ever since I faintly heard your voice, as one faintly hears the first wild geese of autumn, my heart has hung restless in midair, and I do nothing but brood.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 481

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
This poem sings of a love in which the heart, after only faintly hearing the beloved's voice, has become restless as if floating in the air. The call of the first wild geese of autumn serves as a preface, and the image of geese crossing the sky unfolds into "the middle sky," expressing a heart suspended and unsettled. It skillfully joins the echo of sound with the associations of seasonal imagery.
The poet "Oshikochi Mitsune," written partly in kana in the original, is Oshikochi no Mitsune. He was one of the compilers of the Kokinshu and held posts such as Junior Clerk of Kai and Senior Secretary of Izumi. One of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets, he is known as a poet ranking alongside Ki no Tsurayuki.

First line, "Like the first wild geese": hatsukari are the first geese to arrive in autumn, and the repeated sound makes this a preface leading to hatsuka ni in the second line.
Second line, "I faintly heard your voice": hatsuka ni means slightly. It is the same word as "the grass so faintly seen" in poem 478 of this book; there a figure barely seen, here a voice barely heard, gives rise to love.
Third line, "and since that moment": kikishi yori means "since I heard," with shi the attributive form of the past auxiliary ki.
Fourth line, "I drift in the middle sky": nakazora means the middle of the sky and also an unsettled, absent heart, echoing the geese crossing the sky.
Fifth line, "lost in thoughts of love": mono wo omou kana means "how I brood," with kana as an exclamatory final particle.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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