有りとのみおとはの山の郭公
聞きに聞こえて逢はずもあるかな
聞きに聞こえて逢はずもあるかな
- Roma-ji
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Ari to nomi otowa no yama no hototogisu kiki ni kikoete awazu mo aru kana
- English Translation
-
Only that it's there,
on Otowa's mountain, all
I hear of the cuckoo;
I hear and hear of you, and yet
never once have we two met
- Meaning
- Like the cuckoo of Mount Otowa, known only by the rumor that it is there, I hear and hear of you, yet we never meet.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Summer Poems 158
Headnote: "Sent to a woman."
Like the cuckoo on Mount Otowa, known only by report, the poet hears of her again and again yet cannot meet her. Echoing "oto," rumor, in the name Otowa, the poem conveys the frustration of hearing only her fame and never meeting her.
According to the headnote, it was sent to a woman.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the author as "yomibito mo," but it is treated here as anonymous.
The first line, "Ari to nomi," means "only that it is there," showing that only rumor reaches him.
In the second line, "otowa" is a pivot word joining Otowa, a famed place in Yamashiro Province, and "oto wa," rumor.
Up to the third line, "hototogisu," the cuckoo, a bird heard but not seen, leads into "kiki ni kikoete" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "kiki ni kikoete," means "heard and heard again," repeating the same verb to stress how much he has heard of her.
The last line, "awazu mo aru kana," means "and yet we do not meet," with "kana" as a sigh. Taking up "mada minu koi" in the preceding poem, 157, it sings of a love that never meets.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Aimishi mo mada minu koi mo hototogisu tsuki ni naku yo zo yo ni nizari keru
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Kogakurete satsuki matsu tomo hototogisu hane narawashi ni edautsuri seyo