みみなしの山ならずとも呼子鳥
何かは聞かん時ならぬ音を
何かは聞かん時ならぬ音を
- Roma-ji
-
Miminashi no yama narazu tomo yobukodori nani ka wa kikan toki naranu ne o
- English Translation
-
Though I am no mount
of Miminashi, the earless,
O calling bird,
why should I listen at all
to a cry out of season
- Meaning
- Even if I am not Mount Miminashi, the mountain without ears, why should I listen, calling bird, to a cry that comes out of season?
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1035
Headnote: "Reply."
The reply asks why, even if she is not Mount Miminashi, she should listen to the calling bird's cry out of season. Taking up Mount Miminashi and the calling bird from the preceding poem, she retorts that she does not answer not for lack of ears but because his call ignores the proper time.
According to the headnote, it is the reply to the preceding poem, 1034. The calling bird is held to sing in spring, and "toki naranu ne," a cry out of season, dismisses his call as untimely.
The poet, the Fifth Princess, is known by a title for the fifth daughter of an emperor. She seems to have been a princess connected with the Uda Palace, but there is no settled view of who she was.
The first line, "Miminashi no," means "of Miminashi," taking up the second line of the preceding poem, with "miminashi" also meaning earless.
The second line, "yama narazu tomo," means "even if I am not the mountain," with "tomo" marking an adversative supposition.
The third line, "yobukodori," calls out, "O calling bird," taking up the third line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "nani ka wa kikan," means "why would I listen," with "ka wa" a rhetorical binding particle closed by the attributive "n."
The last line, "toki naranu ne o," means "to a cry out of season," turning back to the fourth line by inversion.
- Author
- Fifth Princess
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Uda no no wa miminashiyama ka yobukodori yobu koe ni dani kotaezaruran
- Next Poem
-
Koiwabite shinu chō koto wa mada naki o yo no tameshi ni mo narinubeki kana