人はいさ深山隠れの郭公
慣らはぬ里は住み憂かるべし
慣らはぬ里は住み憂かるべし
- Roma-ji
-
Hito wa isa miyamagakure no hototogisu narawanu sato wa sumiukarubeshi
- English Translation
-
As for others, who knows—
but for the cuckoo hidden
in the deep hills,
a village it has not known
would be a hard place to dwell
- Meaning
- Others may feel differently, but for the cuckoo hidden away in the deep mountains, a village it is not used to would be a hard place to live.
- Commentary
-
Book Thirteen Love Poems V 951
Headnote: "Reply."
Taifu says that whatever others may feel, for a cuckoo hidden in the deep mountains a village it is not used to would be hard to live in. Asked in the preceding poem to leave the deep mountains and sing nearby, she gently declines, saying that she would find an unfamiliar village hard to live in.
It is the reply to the preceding poem, 950. Taking up its deep mountains and cuckoo, she answers the call to leave the mountains from the cuckoo's own standpoint, so the one who calls and the one called face each other.
The poet, Taifu, was a lady-in-waiting and poet active in the time of the Gosenshu, who exchanged poems with Fujiwara no Saneyori, Fujiwara no Atsutada and others.
The first line, "Hito wa isa," means "as for others, who knows," "isa" being a word that withholds judgment.
The second line, "miyamagakure no," means "hidden in the deep mountains," taking up "miyama" in the preceding poem.
The third line, "hototogisu," means "the cuckoo," repeating the third line of the preceding poem and standing for herself.
The fourth line, "narawanu sato wa," means "a village it is not used to," answering "miyama o idete" in the preceding poem with going down to the village.
The last line, "sumiukarubeshi," means "would be hard to live in," with "beshi" a conjectural auxiliary.
- Author
- Taifu
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ima wa haya miyama o idete hototogisu kejikaki koe o ware ni kikaseyo
- Next Poem
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Arishi dani ukarishi mono o akazu tote izuko ni souru tsurasa naruran