霍公鳥なかる国にも行きてしか
その鳴く声を聞けば苦しも
その鳴く声を聞けば苦しも
- Roma-ji
-
Hototogisu nakaru kuni ni mo yukiteshika sono naku koe o kikeba kurushi mo
- English Translation
-
O cuckoo, you bird,
to some land where you are not
I would gladly go,
for whenever I hear
your voice, I am in such pain
- Meaning
- I wish I could go to some land where there are no cuckoos, for hearing their cry is more than I can bear.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1467
Headnote: "A poem by Prince Yuge"
The poet says that hearing the cuckoo's cry is so painful that he would rather go away to some land where there are no cuckoos. The cuckoo's voice was thought to stir longing and brooding, and the poem expresses a sorrow so deep that he wishes to flee from it.
The author, Prince Yuge, was a son of Emperor Tenmu.
The first line names the bird that is the subject of the poem.
The second line means "even to a land where there are none." While many poems long for the cuckoo's arrival, this one is unusual in wishing to escape its voice.
The third line, with the desiderative "teshika," strongly wishes to go, and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line names the cuckoo's voice.
The final line gives the reason: it is painful to hear. The same final line appears in 1484 of this book, which also sings of hearing the cuckoo with pain on a night of sleeping alone.
- Author
- Prince Yuge
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Kamunabi no iwase no mori no hototogisu kenashi no oka ni itsuka kinakamu
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Hototogisu koe kiku ono no akikaze ni hagi sakinure ya koe no tomoshiki