Amakumo ni hane uchitsukete tobu tazu no tazutazushi kamo kimi shi masaneba

天雲に翼打ちつけて飛ぶ鶴の
たづたづしかも君しまさねば

Roma-ji: Amakumo ni hane uchitsukete tobu tazu no tazutazushi kamo kimi shi masaneba
English Translation: Against the heaven's clouds
beating hard their wings as they
fly onward, the cranes;
how uncertain, how forlorn,
when you, my lord, are not here
Meaning: Like the cranes that fly beating their wings against the clouds of heaven, how forlorn and uncertain I feel, since you are not here.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2490

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
With the image of cranes flying high as if beating their wings against the clouds as a preface, the poem draws "tazutazushi" (forlorn) from the sound of "tazu" (crane) and laments the loneliness of having no one to lean on. Since it addresses "kimi," it is thought to be spoken from a woman's standpoint.
After the poems on trees and plants up to the preceding one, poems on birds and beasts begin here, continuing with the mandarin duck in the next poem and the little grebe in poem 2492. Book Four also has a poem that draws "tazutazushi" from cranes, "Like the reed cranes feeding in the inlet of Kusaka, how forlorn I am without a friend," a well-known example of the same expression.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "amakumo ni": "against the clouds of heaven," depicting cranes flying so high they seem to reach the clouds.
Second line, "hane uchitsukete": "beating their wings against them." This line conveys the force of their wingbeats.
Third line, "tobu tazu no": "like the flying cranes." The opening through this line forms a preface, repeating the sound "tazu" (crane) to lead into "tazutazushi" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "tazutazushi kamo": "how forlorn and uncertain." "Kamo" is an exclamatory particle, and the poem pauses here, the fourth and fifth lines standing in inverted order.
Fifth line, "kimi shi masaneba": "since you are not here." "Shi" is an emphatic particle, "masu" an honorific for "to be," and "ne" the realis form of the negative "zu," which with "ba" gives the reason.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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