Hitogoto o shigemi to kimi o uzura naku hito no furue ni kataraite yaritsu

人言を繁みと君を鶉鳴く
人の古家に語らひて遣りつ

Roma-ji: Hitogoto o shigemi to kimi o uzura naku hito no furue ni kataraite yaritsu
English Translation: Since people's gossip
was so rife, I took you, love,
where the quail cry out,
to someone's old abandoned house,
and after talking, sent you home
Meaning: Because people's gossip was so rife, I took you to someone's old abandoned house where the quail cry, and after we had talked together, I sent you home.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2799

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Because of the gossip, the woman met her lover not at her own home but in an old house no longer lived in, and after talking with him there, sent him away. The ache of a love that must avoid others' eyes yet cannot forgo meeting, and the frustration of not meeting as one wishes, seep through the poem.
With this poem begins a run of poems on birds, continuing to poem 2805 and weaving in quail, rooster, shore birds, copper pheasant, crane and others. Here the scene of a ruined old house where quail cry leaves a strong impression of the loneliness of a secret meeting.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "hitogoto o": "people's talk." The love poems of the Man'yoshu often express fear of gossip and reputation.
Second line, "shigemi to kimi o": "because it was rife, you." "Shigemi" is the "mi" construction, the stem of the adjective "shigeshi" with the suffix "mi," expressing cause.
Third line, "uzura naku": a pillow word attached to "furu" (old). Since quail live in overgrown, desolate places, it leads into the old, decaying house.
Fourth line, "hito no furue ni": "in someone's old house," a house no longer lived in, chosen as a meeting place hidden from others' eyes.
Fifth line, "kataraite yaritsu": "I talked with you and sent you home." "Katarau" means to talk intimately or exchange vows, and "tsu" is the perfective auxiliary.
Source: Manyoshu
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