Yamagatsu to hito wa iedomo hototogisu mazu hatsukoe wa ware nomi zo kiku - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山がつと人は言へども郭公
まづ初声は我のみぞ聞く

Roma-ji: Yamagatsu to hito wa iedomo hototogisu mazu hatsukoe wa ware nomi zo kiku
English Translation: Mountain rustic, so
people call me, and yet still
the cuckoo's song,
the very first of the year,
I alone am first to hear.
Meaning: People may call me a mountain rustic, yet I alone am the first to hear the cuckoo's first song.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 103

Headnote: "For the poetry contest at the house of the Fourth Princess"
Though others may look down on him as a mountain rustic, the poet proudly declares that he alone is the first to hear the cuckoo's first song, a privilege of living in the hills. Turning from self-deprecation to pride within one poem, it lightly shows the advantage that a mountain dweller enjoys over the people of the capital. According to the headnote, it is said to have been submitted to a poetry contest at the house of Princess Kinshi, a daughter of Emperor Daigo known as the Fourth Princess.
Sakanoue no Korenori was a poet of the early Heian period, said to be a descendant of Sakanoue no Tamuramaro. He was the father of Sakanoue no Mochiki and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "yamagatsu to," means "a lowly mountain dweller." The word "yamagatsu" also appears in 93 of this book.
Second line, "hito wa iedomo," means "though people say so," with the concessive particle "domo." In contrast to the people of the capital in the preceding poem, it speaks from the position of one who lives in the hills.
Third line, "hototogisu," is the cuckoo that sings first in the mountains.
Fourth line, "mazu hatsukoe wa," means "first of all, its first song." Following 96 and 100 of this book, the first song is sung of again.
Final line, "ware nomi zo kiku," means "I alone hear it," with "zo" resolved by the attributive "kiku." Following the preceding poem's thought that the people of the capital are not waiting up, this poem claims that the poet, living in the hills, has the first song all to himself, so the two poems answer each other.
Author: Sakanoue no Koreyuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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