Koto shigemi kimi wa kimasazu hototogisu nare dani kinake asato hirakamu

言繁み君は来まさず霍公鳥
汝れだに来鳴け朝戸開かむ

Roma-ji: Koto shigemi kimi wa kimasazu hototogisu nare dani kinake asato hirakamu
English Translation: Because of gossip
my dear one does not come here:
O cuckoo, you bird,
at least you come and sing,
and I will open the morning door
Meaning: Because people's gossip is so thick, you do not come; O cuckoo, at least you come and sing, and I will open my door to the morning.
Commentary: Book Eight Summer Love Poems 1499

Headnote: "A poem recited at a banquet by Ōtomo no Yotsuna"
Since people's gossip keeps her lover away, the speaker asks that at least the cuckoo come and sing, and says she will open the morning door to wait. The poem is composed from the standpoint of a waiting woman and, as the headnote says, was recited at a banquet.
The author, Ōtomo no Yotsuna, was an official of the Ōtomo clan known to have served at Dazaifu as an assistant in the office of frontier guards.

The first line, in the "... mi" form, means "because gossip is thick." Princess Tajima's 1515 in this book also laments "a village thick with gossip."
The second line means "you do not come," and the poem pauses here. Like "you who do not come" in the preceding poem, it sings of waiting for one who does not visit.
The third line is an address to the cuckoo.
In the fourth line, "dani" means "at least," asking for the bird's visit in place of her lover.
The final line, with the volitional "mu," says she will open the morning door to welcome it, expressing the ache of waiting.
Author: Ōtomo no Yotsuna
Source: Manyoshu
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