Tachibana no hana chiru sato ni kayoinaba yamahototogisu toyomosamu ka mo

橘の花散る里に通ひなば
山霍公鳥響もさむかも

Roma-ji: Tachibana no hana chiru sato ni kayoinaba yamahototogisu toyomosamu ka mo
English Translation: To the village where
blossoms of the orange fall
should I come and go,
would the mountain cuckoo birds
raise their voices, ringing loud?
Meaning: If I should go visiting the village where the tachibana blossoms fall, would the mountain hototogisu set up a clamor?
Commentary: Book Ten Summer Miscellaneous Poems 1978

Headnote: "Allegorical Poems"
This poem wonders whether, if the speaker went visiting the village where tachibana blossoms fall, the mountain hototogisu would raise a clamor, and its headnote is "Allegorical Poems." The village of falling tachibana is thought to stand for the beloved's home and the clamor of the hototogisu for people's gossip, revealing a hesitation lest visiting the beloved stir rumors. It closes the summer miscellaneous poems, and since the spring miscellaneous poems also ended with an allegorical poem, 1889, the arrangement shows a correspondence.

The first line, "of the tachibana," names the summer tree, evoking the village where the beloved lives.
The second line, "to the village where the blossoms fall," names the place.
In the third line, "kayoinaba," "na" is the irrealis of the completive "nu" and "ba" marks a supposition: if I were to go.
The fourth line, "the mountain hototogisu," is thought to figure the people who would spread gossip.
In the last line, "toyomosamu ka mo," "mu" is conjecture and "ka mo" a question tinged with exclamation, closing with worry that rumors will spread.
Source: Manyoshu
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