Hototogisu matedo kinakazu ayamegusa tama ni nuku hi o imada tōmi ka

霍公鳥待てど来鳴かず菖蒲草
玉に貫く日をいまだ遠みか

Roma-ji: Hototogisu matedo kinakazu ayamegusa tama ni nuku hi o imada tōmi ka
English Translation: O cuckoo, you bird,
I wait, but you do not come;
with the sweet flag leaves
the day to thread them into beads,
is it still too far away?
Meaning: I wait for the cuckoo, but it does not come to sing; is it because the day for threading sweet flag into beads is still far off?
Commentary: Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1490

Headnote: "A poem on the cuckoo by Ōtomo no Yakamochi"
The poet surmises that the cuckoo does not come to sing, however long he waits, because the fifth-month festival for threading sweet flag into beads is still some way off. Linking the cuckoo's visit with the timing of the festival, it expresses his impatience.
The author, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was a son of Ōtomo no Tabito and an official of the Nara period. He rose to the post of Middle Counselor, is thought to have been closely involved in compiling the Man'yōshū, and left more poems than anyone else in the anthology.

The first line names the awaited bird.
The second line, with the concessive "do," means "though I wait, it does not come," and the poem pauses here.
The third line names sweet flag, used as herbal balls at the festival of the fifth day of the fifth month.
The fourth line refers to the festival day when sweet flag is threaded into beads. 1465 of this book asks the cuckoo not to sing itself out until its voice can be threaded into the fifth-month beads; this poem, conversely, wonders whether it does not sing because the festival is not yet near.
The final line adds the interrogative "ka" to "tōmi," from "tōshi" with "mi," guessing the reason: is it still far off?
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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