Furusato no Narashi no oka ni hototogisu kotozute yariki ika ni tsugeki ya - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

古里の奈良思の岡に郭公
言伝てやりきいかに告げきや

Roma-ji: Furusato no Narashi no oka ni hototogisu kotozute yariki ika ni tsugeki ya
English Translation: To the cuckoo there
on the hill of Narashi
in the old capital,
I entrusted words for you;
how, I wonder, did it tell them?
Meaning: I entrusted a message to the cuckoo on the hill of Narashi in the old capital; how, I wonder, did it deliver it to you?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1077

Headnote: "Sent to Lady Sakanoue"
The poet says that he entrusted a message to the cuckoo on the hill of Narashi in the old capital, and wonders how it delivered it. The headnote shows it was sent to Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue. Using the cuckoo as a messenger to carry his feelings, he asks, in the form of a question, how they reached her.
The author, Ōtomo no Katami, was an official of the Nara period who left poems in the Man'yōshū. Lady Sakanoue was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and a half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito, one of the foremost women poets of the Man'yōshū.
A poem in nearly the same form appears in Book Eight of the Man'yōshū.

First line, "furusato no," means "of the old capital," speaking of a former seat of the court.
Second line, "Narashi no oka ni," means "on the hill of Narashi," a place name in Yamato.
Third line, "hototogisu," means "to the cuckoo," continuing the cuckoo poems.
Fourth line, "kotozute yariki," means "I sent a message," with "ki" the past auxiliary. The poem breaks after this fourth line.
Final line, "ika ni tsugeki ya," means "how did it tell you," with "ya" expressing a question.
Author: Ōtomo no Katami
Source: Shui Wakashu
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