家に来て何を語らむあしひきの
山郭公一声もがな
山郭公一声もがな
- Roma-ji
-
Ie ni kite nani o kataramu ashihiki no yamahototogisu hitokoe mo gana
- English Translation
-
Returning back home,
what then shall I tell them of?
Leg-wearying hills
where the mountain cuckoo is,
if I could hear but one song!
- Meaning
- When I return home, what shall I tell them? Mountain cuckoo, if only you would sing just once.
- Commentary
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Book Two Summer Poems 97
Headnote: "On crossing the summer mountains"
Crossing the summer mountains, the poet wonders what he will talk about when he gets home and wishes that the mountain cuckoo would sing even once. In seeking the cuckoo's song as a story to bring back from the journey, the poem reveals his thoughts of those waiting at home. According to the headnote, it was composed while crossing the summer mountains.
Kume no Hirotsuna was an official of the Nara period. As a secretary of Etchū Province, he exchanged poems with Ōtomo no Yakamochi, who was then governor of the province.
This poem appears in Book Nineteen of the Man'yōshū as a poem by Kume no Hirotsuna, composed in resentment that the cuckoo would not sing.
First line, "ie ni kite," means "having come home," imagining the time after the journey's end.
Second line, "nani o kataramu," means "what shall I tell," with "mu" as an auxiliary of intention. The poem pauses here.
Third line, "ashihiki no," is a pillow word that modifies "yama" (mountain).
Fourth line, "yamahototogisu," is the cuckoo of the mountains, the same word as in 95 of this book, fitting for a journey across the hills.
Final line, "hitokoe mo gana," means "if only one song," with "mogana" as a particle of desire. Like "ima hitokoe" in 106 of this book, it sings of longing for a single song.
- Author
- Kume no Hironawa
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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