もののふの石瀬の社の霍公鳥
今も鳴かぬか山の常蔭に
今も鳴かぬか山の常蔭に
- Roma-ji
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Mononofu no iwase no mori no hototogisu ima mo nakanu ka yama no tokage ni
- English Translation
-
Of the warrior clans,
in the woods of Iwase,
O cuckoo, you bird,
will you not sing even now,
in the mountain's lasting shade?
- Meaning
- O cuckoo of the grove of Iwase, will you not sing for me now, in the ever-shaded folds of the mountain?
- Commentary
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Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1470
Headnote: "A poem by Tori no Senryō"
Addressing the cuckoo of the grove of Iwase, the poet begs it to sing at once in the shade of the mountain. The longing for the cuckoo's coming is expressed through a wish cast in negative form.
The author, Tori no Senryō, was an official of the Nara period who also excelled at Chinese verse and left poems in the Kaifūsō.
The first line, "mononofu no," is a pillow word for "Iwase."
The second line names the grove of Iwase, thought to lie near present-day Ikaruga in Nara. Following 1419 and 1466 of this book, this is the third poem to sing of the birds of this grove.
The third line is an address. Taking up the same opening pattern as 1466, a different poet sings in turn of the same bird.
The fourth line is a wish formed by the negative "nu" with "ka": "will you not sing now?" The poem pauses here.
The final line means "in the part of the mountain always in shade," naming at the end, by inversion, the place where he wants it to sing.
- Author
- Tori no Senryō
- Source
- Manyoshu
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