Haru sareba sugaru nasu no no hototogisu hotohoto imo ni awazu kinikeri

春さればすがるなす野の霍公鳥
ほとほと妹に逢はず来にけり

Roma-ji: Haru sareba sugaru nasu no no hototogisu hotohoto imo ni awazu kinikeri
English Translation: When the spring comes round,
in the fields where wasps swarm thick,
hototogisu—
all but, nearly, all but did
I come home not meeting you.
Meaning: Like the hototogisu of the fields where the wasps swarm when spring comes, hoto-hoto, I very nearly came back without meeting my beloved.
Commentary: Book Ten Summer Love Poems 1979

Headnote: "Summer Love Poems: Love Expressed Through Birds"
Drawing "hotohoto," nearly, from the sound of "hototogisu," this poem sings of having very nearly returned without meeting the beloved. It stands at the head of the Summer Love Poems, and its headnote is "Love Expressed Through Birds." The upper lines are a preface, and in the wordplay on the bird's name there is both relief at having met and a sense of how close it was. The hototogisu, sung as a seasonal emblem in the summer miscellaneous poems, is used in the summer love poems as a preface to a love poem.

The first line, "when spring comes," shows a field scene continuing from spring, though this is a summer love poem.
In the second line, "sugaru nasu no no," "sugaru" is an old name for the digger wasp and "nasu" is taken to mean swarming, giving fields where wasps swarm.
The third line, "hototogisu," is the key word of the preface leading into the similar-sounding "hotohoto."
In the fourth line, "hotohoto imo ni," "hotohoto" means very nearly, echoing "hototogisu" in the third line.
In the last line, "awazu kinikeri," "keri" expresses realization, closing as the speaker looks back on nearly returning without meeting.
Source: Manyoshu
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