夏山の木末の茂に霍公鳥
鳴き響むなる声の遥けさ
鳴き響むなる声の遥けさ
- Roma-ji
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Natsuyama no konure no shige ni hototogisu naki toyomu naru koe no harukesa
- English Translation
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In the summer hills,
in the thickness of the treetops,
the cuckoo, you bird,
I hear you ringing out:
how far away your voice
- Meaning
- Deep in the thick treetops of the summer mountains, a cuckoo's song rings out; how far away its voice sounds.
- Commentary
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Book Eight Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1494
Headnote: "Two poems on the cuckoo by Ōtomo no Yakamochi"
Hearing a cuckoo's song echo from afar out of the thick treetops of the summer mountains, the poet is moved by its remoteness. Through the voice alone of an unseen bird, he conveys the depth and breadth of the summer mountains.
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 lush green mountains of summer.
The second line means "in the thickness of the treetops."
The third line names the bird singing deep within the foliage.
In the fourth line, "naru" is an auxiliary of inference from sound: "I hear it singing loudly."
The final line ends on a noun, expressing wonder at the distance of the voice. Prince Yuhara's 1550 in this book ends with the same line, "how far away the voice of the deer," so the summer cuckoo and the autumn deer correspond as voices ringing from afar.
- Author
- Otomo no Yakamochi
- Source
- Manyoshu
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