玉匣あけつるほどの郭公
ただ二声も鳴きて来しかな
ただ二声も鳴きて来しかな
- Roma-ji
-
Tamakushige aketsuru hodo no hototogisu tada futakoe mo nakite koshi kana
- English Translation
-
As the jeweled box
is opened, so came the dawn,
and the cuckoo then,
just two notes it sang, no more,
and so it came along to me
- Meaning
- At the hour when dawn broke open like a jeweled comb box, the cuckoo came, singing just two notes.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Summer Poems 178
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that the cuckoo at daybreak came singing just two notes. He receives that slight voice at dawn as something precious, leaving him wanting more.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Tamakushige," means a lovely comb box and is a pillow word modifying "aku," from the opening of a box.
In the second line, "ake" is a pivot word joining "ake," opening the box, taken from the pillow word, and "ake," the breaking of dawn. "Tsuru" is the attributive form of the completive auxiliary "tsu": "at the hour when day has broken."
The third line, "hototogisu," places the cuckoo as a bird that sings at dawn.
The fourth line, "tada futakoe mo," means "just two notes," stressing how little it sang. Like "futakoe to" in 172 of this book, it treasures a few brief notes.
The last line, "nakite koshi kana," means "came singing," with "shi" as the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki" and "kana" a sigh.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Hitori ite mono omou ware o hototogisu koko ni shimo naku kokoro arurashi
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