classic waka stream

里馴るる黄昏時のほととぎす
聞かず顔にてまた名告らせん
Roma-ji

Sato naruru tasogaredoki no hototogisu kikazugao nite mata nanorasen

English Translation
At home in the town,
singing in the twilight hour,
little cuckoo, you:
I'll feign that I have not heard,
and make you call your name again.
Meaning
Cuckoo, grown used to the village and singing at twilight, I will pretend not to have heard you, and so make you call out your name once more.
Commentary
Summer Poems 181

Headnote: "The cuckoo at dusk"
This poem was composed on the topic of the cuckoo at dusk. Hearing the cuckoo, now at home in the village, singing at twilight, the poet decides to pretend he has not heard, so that it will sing once more. The cuckoo's song was thought to be the bird calling out its own name, and his wish to hear more is expressed through this playful pretense.
Tasogare comes from ta so kare, who is that, naming the dim hour when faces cannot be made out. Making the bird announce its name at the very hour when one asks who is there adds a verbal wit to the poem.
The text reads hototosasu in the third line, and the reading line agrees, but this is taken to be a copying error for hototogisu, and the poem is read accordingly.

First line, “sato naruru”: grown familiar with the village; the cuckoo has come down from the mountains to sing among people.
Second line, “tasogaredoki no”: the dim hour of dusk; tasogare derives from ta so kare, who is that, the hour when faces cannot be told apart.
Third line, “hototogisu”: presented as if addressing the bird.
Fourth line, “kikazugao nite”: with a face as if I had not heard.
Fifth line, “mata nanorasen”: nanoru is the cuckoo's calling out its own name in song, and n expresses intention, I will make it sing again; making the bird tell its name answers the who is that of twilight.
Author
Saigyō
Source
Sankashu
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