この里にいかなる人か家居して
山郭公絶えず聞くらむ
山郭公絶えず聞くらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Kono sato ni ika naru hito ka iei shite yamahototogisu taezu kikuramu
- English Translation
-
In this village here
what kind of person might it be
who has made a home,
to hear the mountain cuckoo
singing without any end?
- Meaning
- What kind of person has made a home in this village, to hear the mountain cuckoo singing without end?
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 107
Headnote: "For a folding screen at the house of Atsutada Ason"
Envying those who live in a village where the cuckoo can be heard without end, the poet wonders what sort of person dwells there. Turning his thoughts to the villagers painted on the screen, he expresses a longing for a life in which one can hear the cuckoo to one's heart's content. According to the headnote, it accompanied a folding screen at the house of Fujiwara no Atsutada.
The author, written as Tsurayuki, is Ki no Tsurayuki. The leading compiler of the Kokinshū, he wrote its Kana Preface and the Tosa Diary, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "kono sato ni," points to the village painted on the screen.
Second line, "ika naru hito ka," means "what kind of person," with the questioning particle "ka," which is resolved by "ramu" in the final line.
Third line, "iei shite," means "making a home."
Fourth line, "yamahototogisu," is the cuckoo of the mountains, the word used before in 95 and 97 of this book.
Final line, "taezu kikuramu," means "might be hearing without end," with "ramu," the attributive of the present conjectural auxiliary, closing the construction begun by "ka." Whereas the preceding poem lingered on a mountain path for one more song, this poem imagines someone who hears the song endlessly, contrasting a single song with ceaseless singing.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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