Inishie ni kouramu tori wa hototogisu kedashi ya nakishi aga moeru goto

いにしへに恋ふらむ鳥は霍公鳥
けだしや鳴きし我が念へるごと

Roma-ji: Inishie ni kouramu tori wa hototogisu kedashi ya nakishi aga moeru goto
English Translation: That bird you speak of
that yearns for the days of old
is the hototogisu—
perhaps it cried out, just as
I myself have yearned for them.
Meaning: The bird that longs for days gone by must be the hototogisu. Perhaps it cried out, just as I myself long for those days.
Commentary: Book Two Love Poems 112

Headnote: "A poem offered by Princess Nukata in reply"
Answering Prince Yuge's question, she replies that the bird that longs for the past is the hototogisu, and that it must have cried just as she herself longs for those days.
A note to the headnote says the poem was "sent in from the capital in Yamato," delivered from the capital to the prince at Yoshino. The hototogisu was believed to cry in longing for the past, and the aged Princess Nukata lays her own feelings over the prince's longing for the age of Emperor Tenmu.
The author, Princess Nukata, is said to have been a daughter of Prince Kagami. She was first loved by Prince Ōama, the future Emperor Tenmu, and bore him Princess Tōchi; later she is said to have served Emperor Tenji. She is the leading woman poet of the early Man'yōshū.

The first line, "inishie ni," takes up the first line of the preceding poem unchanged.
In the second line, "kouramu tori wa," ramu infers from what has been heard: the bird you say yearns for the past. It rephrases "kouru tori kamo" in the preceding poem.
The third line, "hototogisu," names the bird believed to cry in longing for the past. The poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "kedashi ya nakishi," kedashi means "perhaps" and ya is interrogative: I suppose it cried.
The final line, "aga moeru goto," means "as I have yearned," and by inversion ends by joining the bird's cry to her own feeling.
Author: Princess Nukata
Source: Manyoshu
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