Tabi ni shite imo ni koureba hototogisu waga sumu sato ni ko yo nakiwataru

旅にして妹に恋ふれば霍公鳥
我が住む里にこよ鳴き渡る

Roma-ji: Tabi ni shite imo ni koureba hototogisu waga sumu sato ni ko yo nakiwataru
English Translation: Far from home, as I
am longing for my love,
the little cuckoo
over the village where I live
passes here crying as it flies
Meaning: As I long for my wife far from home, the little cuckoo passes right here over the village where I live, crying as it flies.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Exchange Poems of Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome 3783

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome"
He sings that while he longs for his wife far from home, the little cuckoo flies right past the village where he lives, crying as it goes. The heart longing for his wife and the cuckoo's cry as it passes overlap, stirring his longing all the more. If the cuckoo were flying toward the capital, one also senses a wish to entrust his feelings to it.
The author, Nakatomi no Yakamori, was a son of Nakatomi no Azumahito, from the Nakatomi clan in charge of the rites of the gods. He was exiled to Echizen Province for an offense, but was later pardoned and returned to the capital.
A left note reads "the above seven poems were composed by Nakatomi no Ason Yakamori expressing his thoughts through flowers and birds"; the seven poems from 3779 to 3785 of this book express his feelings through flowers and birds, six of them singing of the little cuckoo. The latter half of this book contains sixty-three poems exchanged between Nakatomi no Yakamori and Sano no Otogami no Otome. According to the book's table of contents, when Yakamori took as his wife the young woman, a lady-in-waiting of the palace storehouse office, he was exiled to Echizen Province by imperial decree. The place of exile is thought to be Ajimano in Echizen, near present-day Echizen City, Fukui Prefecture.

First line, "tabi ni shite": being on a journey, referring to his exile.
Second line, "imo ni koureba": as I long for my wife, a definite condition with the realis plus "ba."
Third line, "hototogisu": the bird that cries in early summer, its voice said to stir up longing.
Fourth line, "waga sumu sato ni": in the village where I live, the same as the fourth line of the preceding poem, 3782.
Fifth line, "ko yo nakiwataru": "ko" means here and "yo" is a case particle of passage: passing right here, crying as it flies, the poem ends.
Author: Nakatomi no Yakamori
Source: Manyoshu
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