霍公鳥鳴く峰の上の卯の花の
憂きことあれや君が来まさぬ
憂きことあれや君が来まさぬ
- Roma-ji
-
Hototogisu naku o no ue no unohana no uki koto are ya kimi ga kimasanu
- English Translation
-
Where the cuckoo sings,
high up on the mountain peak,
the deutzia blooms:
is there something that grieves you,
that you do not come to me?
- Meaning
- Like the deutzia on the peak where the cuckoo sings, is there something that troubles you, that you do not come to me?
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Summer Love Poems 1501
Headnote: "A poem by Oharida no Ason Hiromimi"
From the sound "u" of the deutzia (unohana) blooming on the peak where the cuckoo sings, the poem draws out "uki," sorrow, and wonders anxiously and reproachfully whether some grief keeps the lover away. It is read as composed from the standpoint of a waiting woman.
The author, Oharida no Hiromimi, was an official of the Nara period about whom little is known.
The first line sets the early-summer scene.
The second line means "on the peak where it sings."
With the third line, the first three lines become a preface that leads, through the repeated sound, to "uki." Using the early-summer pair of cuckoo and deutzia, it links the scene to the lament of love.
The fourth line, the perfective "are" with the interrogative "ya," surmises "is there some grief?"
The final line answers the "ya" of the fourth line with the attributive form, lamenting that the lover does not come. Like 1498 and 1499 of this book, it sings of waiting for one who does not visit.
- Author
- Oharida no Hiromimi
- Source
- Manyoshu
- Prev Poem
-
Natsu no no no shigemi ni sakeru himeyuri no shiraenu koi wa kurushiki mono zo
- Next Poem
-
Satsuki no hanatachibana o kimi ga tame tama ni koso nuke chiramaku oshimi