郭公をちかへり鳴けうなゐ子が
うち垂れ髪のさみだれの空
うち垂れ髪のさみだれの空
- Roma-ji
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Hototogisu ochikaeri nake unaiko ga uchitaregami no samidare no sora
- English Translation
-
Cuckoo, sing again,
sing again and yet again!
Like a young child's hair,
hanging loose and in disarray,
the sky of the summer rains.
- Meaning
- Cuckoo, sing again and again, into the sky of early summer rain, falling in disarray like the loose hair of a little child.
- Commentary
-
Book Two Summer Poems 116
Headnote: "For the poetry contest at the house of Sadafumi"
The poet calls on the cuckoo to sing again and again into a sky of early summer rain. In the second half, the image of a child's loose hair falling in disarray introduces the summer rains, vividly depicting a sky of steady rain. According to the headnote, it was submitted to a poetry contest held at the house of Taira no Sadafumi.
The author, written as Mitsune, is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune. One of the compilers of the Kokinshū, he was ranked alongside Ki no Tsurayuki and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
First line, "hototogisu," is an address to the cuckoo.
Second line, "ochikaeri nake," means "sing again and again," a call in the imperative. The poem pauses here.
Third line, "unaiko ga," means "a young child," one whose hair is cut at the neck and left hanging loose.
Fourth line, "uchitaregami no," means "of hair hanging down," and together with the third line forms an introduction that leads, through the idea of disordered hair, to "samidare" in the final line.
Final line, "samidare no sora," is a pivot word in which "samidare" means both hair in disarray and the early summer rains, ending on a noun. The summer rains said to be drawing near in 108 of this book are sung of here as a sky of falling rain, and poems on them continue in the next poems, 117 and 118.
- Author
- Oshikochi no Mitsune
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kanokata ni haya kogiyoseyo hototogisu michi ni nakitsu to hito ni kataran
- Next Poem
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Nake ya nake takata no yama no hototogisu kono samidare ni koe na oshimi so