Hototogisu ito netakeku wa tachibana no hana chiru toki ni ki naki toyomuru

霍公鳥いとねたけくは橘の
花散る時に来鳴き響むる

Roma-ji: Hototogisu ito netakeku wa tachibana no hana chiru toki ni ki naki toyomuru
English Translation: Hototogisu,
what vexes me so much is
that just as the
tachibana blossoms fall
you come and fill the air with song.
Meaning: What vexes me so about the cuckoo is that it comes and fills the air with song just as the tachibana blossoms are falling.
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4092

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem composed on hearing a cuckoo call far off while sitting alone inside the curtained tent [with short poems]." "Envoy."
The poet says that what vexes him about the cuckoo is that it comes and sings loudly just as the tachibana blossoms fall. By calling the beloved bird hateful and resenting it as if its song scattered the flowers, he in fact reveals his deep attachment to both the cuckoo and the tachibana.
Ōtomo no Yakamochi was the son of Ōtomo no Tabito, and from 746 he served as governor of Etchū. He is believed to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū, and this book has the character of a poetic diary of his years in Etchū.
The left note reads, "The four poems above were composed by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi on the tenth."

First line, "hototogisu": of the three envoys, only this one places the cuckoo in the first line, opening as though calling to it.
Second line, "ito netakeku wa": "netashi" means vexing or hateful, and "netakeku" is its nominalized form: "what is most vexing is."
Third line, "tachibana no": the tachibana, a flower of early summer. The flowers move from the deutzia of the preceding poem to the tachibana.
Fourth line, "hana chiru toki ni": "when the blossoms fall." Like Yakamochi's fear in 4043 that the cuckoo would scatter the wisteria without singing, the cuckoo appears as a bird that scatters flowers.
Last line, "ki naki toyomuru": "toyomu" means to make one's voice ring out; ending in the attributive form leaves a lingering exclamation.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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