Hototogisu uzuki no imi ni ikomoru o omoishirite mo kinaku naru kana

ほととぎす卯月の忌にい籠るを
思ひ知りても来鳴くなるかな

Roma-ji: Hototogisu uzuki no imi ni ikomoru o omoishirite mo kinaku naru kana
English Translation: Ah, the cuckoo's song:
knowing we are shut away
for the Fourth Month's rites,
it seems that, understanding,
it has come to sing for us.
Meaning: The cuckoo seems to understand that we are shut away in seclusion for the sacred rites of the Fourth Month, and so has come here to sing.
Commentary: Summer Poems 180

Headnote: "When people at the Kamo Shrine composed poems on the topic of hearing the cuckoo without going in search of it"
The headnote tells us that the poem was composed at the Kamo Shrine, where poets took up the topic of hearing the cuckoo without seeking it. In the Fourth Month, before the Kamo Festival, people stayed secluded at the shrine for ritual abstinence and could not go out. The poet suggests that the cuckoo, understanding this, comes and sings for them without their having to go in search of it.
The ingenuity lies in linking the topic, without going in search of it, to the circumstance peculiar to the Kamo Shrine, where seclusion kept people from going out.

First line, “hototogisu”: the cuckoo is presented as the subject, leading to omoishiri in the fourth line and kinaku in the fifth.
Second line, “uzuki no imi ni”: the ritual abstinence observed before the Kamo Festival in the Fourth Month.
Third line, “ikomoru o”: i is a verbal prefix, and komoru means to stay secluded at the shrine for the abstinence.
Fourth line, “omoishirite mo”: understanding our circumstances.
Fifth line, “kinaku naru kana”: naru is the attributive form of the auxiliary nari, expressing inference from what is heard, and the exclamatory kana closes the poem.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Hototogisu hito ni kataranu ori ni shimo hatsune kiku koso kai nakarikere
Next Poem: Sato naruru tasogaredoki no hototogisu kikazugao nite mata nanorasen