尋ねても聞くべきものを時鳥
人頼めなる夜半の一声
人頼めなる夜半の一声
- Roma-ji
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Tazunete mo kikubeki mono o hototogisu hitodanome naru yowa no hitokoe
- English Translation
-
I should have gone out
seeking you to hear your song,
O cuckoo,
single call at dead of night
that only raised my hopes
- Meaning
- I should have gone out seeking it to hear it; this single cry of the cuckoo at dead of night has only raised my hopes.
- Commentary
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Book Three Summer Poems 155
Headnote: "Composed when presenting a hundred-poem sequence to Retired Emperor Sutoku"
Composed for a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku. Late at night the cuckoo called just once and fell silent, leaving the poet hoping to hear more; had he known, he says, he would have gone to the mountains in search of it. In resenting this single cry as "raising hopes in vain," his attachment to the cuckoo shows through.
The author, "Former Consultant Norinaga," is Fujiwara no Norinaga, son of Major Counselor Fujiwara no Tadanori, who rose to Consultant. He joined Retired Emperor Sutoku's side in the Hōgen Disturbance and was exiled to Hitachi. Known also as a master calligrapher, he was one of the poets of the Kyūan Hundred-Poem Sequence.
First line, "tazunete mo": "even by going out to seek it."
Second line, "kikubeki mono o": "beki" expresses what ought to be and "mono o" is concessive with a note of lament: "I should have heard it." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "hototogisu": the singer of the "single call" in the last line.
Fourth line, "hitodanome naru": "hitodanome" is raising another's hopes, leaving them expecting in vain.
Fifth line, "yowa no hitokoe": ends on a noun, the cuckoo's voice heard only once late at night. "Hitokoe wa" in 159 and "hitokoe ni" in 164 of this book also treat the cuckoo's single call.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Norinaga
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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Matade kiku hito ni towaba ya hototogisu satemo hatsune ya ureshikaruran
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Omoiyaru kokoro mo tsukinu hototogisu kumo no ikue no hoka ni nakuran