霍公鳥来鳴き響もす卯の花の
伴にや来しと問はましものを
伴にや来しと問はましものを
- Roma-ji
-
Hototogisu kinaki toyomosu unohana no tomo ni ya koshi to towamashi mono o
- English Translation
-
O cuckoo, you bird,
come to fill the air with song:
of the deutzia
did you come as a companion?
So I would like to ask you
- Meaning
- The cuckoo has come, filling the air with its song; I would like to ask it whether it came as a companion of the deutzia flowers.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1472
Headnote: "A poem by Isonokami no Katsuo no Ason, Senior Assistant Minister of Ceremonial"
The poet says he would like to ask the cuckoo, singing loudly, whether it came in company with the deutzia blossoms. According to the note, when Lady Ōtomo, wife of Ōtomo no Tabito, the Governor-General of Dazaifu, died of illness in Jinki 5 (728), the author was sent to Dazaifu as imperial envoy; after completing the condolences, he climbed Kii Castle with the officials of the headquarters, and composed this poem on that day. The pairing of cuckoo and deutzia is also read as carrying a remembrance of the dead.
The author, Isonokami no Katsuo, was an official of the Nara period who served as Senior Assistant Minister of Ceremonial.
The first line names the bird of early summer.
The second line means "has come and fills the air with song," and the poem pauses here.
The third line names the deutzia, which bears white flowers in early summer. Cuckoo and deutzia are often paired as emblems of early summer.
The fourth line, with the particle "ya," takes the form of a question: "did you come as its companion?"
The final line adds "mono o" to the counterfactual "mashi," voicing an unattainable wish: I would ask if only I could. The next poem, 1473, is Tabito's reply to this one.
- Author
- Isonokami no Katsuo
- Source
- Manyoshu
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Koishikeba katami ni semu to waga yado ni ueshi fujinami ima sakinikeri
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Tachibana no hana chiru sato no hototogisu katakoi shitsutsu naku hi shi zo ōki