Hototogisu ima shi kinakaba yorozuyo ni kataritsugubeku omohoyuru kamo

霍公鳥今し来鳴かば万代に
語り継ぐべく思ほゆるかも

Roma-ji: Hototogisu ima shi kinakaba yorozuyo ni kataritsugubeku omohoyuru kamo
English Translation: Hototogisu,
if you would but come and sing
here and now, I feel
this would be told down the ages
for ten thousand years to come
Meaning: Hototogisu, if only you would come and sing right now, I feel it would be something to tell and retell for ten thousand ages.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3914

Headnote: "A poem longing for the hototogisu, composed by Taguchi no Ason Umaosa"
If the hototogisu would sing right now, it would be a joy to be retold for ten thousand ages—a poem yearning for a silent bird. According to the left note, friends once gathered for a banquet, and since the hototogisu did not sing that day, this poem was made to express longing for it; the place and date of the banquet are unknown. Where the preceding three poems say there is no day it does not sing, this one waits for a bird that will not.
The poet, Taguchi no Umaosa, was an official bearing the title Ason; little else is known of him.
The left note reads, "The above, it is said, was made when friends once gathered for a banquet; on that day the hototogisu did not sing there, so this poem was made to express longing. However, the place of the banquet and the date have not yet been ascertained."

First line, "hototogisu": an opening that includes an appeal to the bird awaited at the banquet.
Second line, "ima shi kinakaba": shi is emphatic—"if you came and sang right now." Opposite to "there is no day it does not sing" in 3911, it speaks from the side of one awaiting a silent bird.
Third line, "yorozuyo ni": "for ten thousand ages," forever.
Fourth line, "kataritsugubeku": "so as to be handed down in the telling," a hyperbole for passing the banquet's event on to later ages.
Fifth line, "omohoyuru kamo": "so it seems to me," kamo voicing emotion.
Author: Taguchi no Umaosa
Source: Manyoshu
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