Satsukiyami Futamurayama no hototogisu minetsuzuki naku koe o kiku kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

五月闇二村山の時鳥
峰続き鳴く声を聞くかな

Roma-ji: Satsukiyami Futamurayama no hototogisu minetsuzuki naku koe o kiku kana
English Translation: In the Fifth Month's dark
the cuckoo of Futamura,
the twin-named peak,
I hear its voice calling on
from summit unto summit
Meaning: In the darkness of the Fifth Month I hear the cuckoo of Mount Futamura singing on from peak to peak.
Commentary: Book Three Summer Poems 193

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'The Cuckoo in the Intercalary Fifth Month' at the Empress's palace in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Composed at the Empress's palace in the reign of Emperor Horikawa on the topic "The Cuckoo in the Intercalary Fifth Month." In the darkness of the Fifth Month, the poet hears the cuckoo of Mount Futamura singing on from peak to peak. Echoing the doubled Fifth Month in the "futa," two, of Futamura and in the voice continuing from peak to peak, the poem portrays the cuckoo of a Fifth Month that has come round twice. The cuckoo sequence ends here.
The author, "Provisional Middle Counselor Toshitada," is Fujiwara no Toshitada, son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Tadaie, who rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. He was the father of Fujiwara no Shunzei, compiler of the Senzai Wakashū.

First line, "satsukiyami": a moonless, dark night in the season of summer rains. Poems 195 and 196 of this book open with the same word.
Second line, "Futamurayama no": Mount Futamura is a poetic place in Owari. Its "futa," two, echoes the Fifth Month occurring twice because of the intercalary month.
Third line, "hototogisu": the subject of the lines that follow.
Fourth line, "minetsuzuki naku": "singing on from peak to peak," suggesting a cuckoo singing on through two Fifth Months.
Fifth line, "koe o kiku kana": the exclamatory "kana," closing the sequence on the cuckoo in the season of rains that began with 188 of this book.
Author: Fujiwara no Toshitada
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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