Kudarano no hagi no furue ni haru matsu to orishi uguisu nakinikemu kamo

百済野の萩の古枝に春待つと
居りし鴬鳴きにけむかも

Roma-ji: Kudarano no hagi no furue ni haru matsu to orishi uguisu nakinikemu kamo
English Translation: On the old branches
of bush clover in Kudara,
waiting for the spring,
the warbler that sat there:
has it begun to sing by now?
Meaning: The warbler that sat waiting for spring on the old branches of bush clover in Kudara Plain: has it begun to sing by now?
Commentary: Book Eight Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1431

Headnote: "A poem by Yamabe no Sukune Akahito"
The poet imagines the warbler that, all winter, sat on the old branches of bush clover in Kudara Plain waiting for spring, and wonders whether it has begun to sing. It is a poem of imagination that turns the heart toward a bird in a distant field rather than a scene before the eyes, and the poet's own longing for spring overlaps with the waiting bird.
The author, Yamabe no Akahito, was a court poet of the early Nara period. He excelled at pure, clear landscape poems and was later ranked alongside Kakinomoto no Hitomaro.

The first line names Kudara Plain, thought to lie near present-day Kōryō in Nara.
The second line names the dry old branches of bush clover left from last year. Pairing the old branches of bush clover, an autumn flower, with the spring warbler, it brings out the turning of the seasons.
The third line, "saying it waits for spring," portrays the warbler as if it were a person.
In the fourth line, the past "shi" recalls the warbler that was perched there when he saw it before. Warblers also appear in 1441 and 1443 of this book, lining the spring miscellaneous poems as birds that announce spring.
The final line adds "kamo" to the past conjectural "kemu," expressing a distant wondering whether it has begun to sing by now.
Author: Yamabe no Akahito
Source: Manyoshu
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